Ginevra In Darkness
by Selina Novella
Summary: The story of a dark witch who has more in common with Bellatrix Lestrange than her fellow Gryffindors, her growing up in the Burrow, Hogwarts, and the resurrection of Voldemort by a young psychopath who would happily dance as the world burned at her feet.
1. of changlings misplaced

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy**

**Chapter 1  
**

**Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter, although considering the percentage of my wages I've used on it I should. ;)  
**

Ginevra had been odd since her birth. She only ever cried when picked up, when left on her own she was quiet and happy. At the age of four every sibling had his favorite fruit. Bill liked pomegranates, Charley liked Mangoes, Percy liked apples, the twins liked tomatoes (just to be different) and Ron liked oranges. Ginny liked lemons. Raw.

When she was five the twins tricked her into eating a blood pop. It was her favorite sweet from that day on, and as a result Fred and George were grounded for a month.

Where the rest of the family was orange haired, no matter the length, Ginny's was a blood red, inherited from the Prewett's Molly insisted, ignoring the fact that the only red in the Prewett family was a strawberry blonde before her own hair. In truth was almost certainly from the Black sides of the family.

She liked to watch. Molly would be working in the kitchen for hours before noticing her in the corner, in one of the sun dresses Molly had made and pigtails, looking quite innocent if not for the cruel amused look in her eyes and the blood pop staining her mouth crimson. Shivers would run up Molly's spine and she'd busy herself with other tasks.

When she was nine she got lost in the floo. Arthur eventually found her in the Dark Swan, an expensive restaurant that tended to draw the darker elements of the wizarding world, sitting on Lucius Malfoy's knee while listening to him chat with Walden MacNair, a Flint, a Nott and a vampire who was sharing his drink with the young red head, which she was clearly enjoying. She had been quite put out to be forced to leave, as had been her dining companions.

When Ginny's first year came she was the only Weasley in the family since Bill to have her own wand. She wouldn't tell them where she got the money, though she certainly didn't spend her pocket change on the expensive sweets her brothers did. So Ginny went to school with a 13 inch wand made of sycamore containing essence of a lethifold. Molly shuddered at the contents while Ginny twirled her wand absently in one hand, alternating green sparks with apparent ease that Molly had only gained after her marriage.

After she left, her letters were basic. I'm fine. Snape is giving me extra potion lessons. Ron got hit with a curse. Lockhart was an idiot. Our new professor is far better. I got detention for breaking Lockharts fingers.

Molly began to pretend the letters never arrived. It was easier that way. If Ginny cared she never showed anything.

After the events of Riddle's Diary she rushed to school, hoping to find a normal little girl left in the place of her changeling, and for a blissful minute she thought her wish had been granted, until Ginny's eyes focused on hers in the hospital wing and turned cold, darkly amused, before returning to chatting with Harry whom Molly noticed seemed quite taken with her.

The visit from Snape to her daughters hospital bed startled her so much she had to sit down. The dark haired professor had stopped at the side of her bed, glancing down without speaking, locking eyes with her they seemed to speak without words and he gave a curt nod and turned and strode out of the hospital wing. Molly watched her mouth tug upwards in a wide toothy smile that was more frightening than anything Molly had ever seen.

Molly wished she had ended at six children.


	2. of lemons

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy**

**Chapter two**

**Disclaimer - Is my name Joanne Rowling? No? Guess I don't own Harry Potter then. ;)  
**

Ginny stood quietly beside her mother. The family was in Traders Alley, an alley located not far from Diagon, easily accessed via portkey or through the closes that riddled the wizarding section of London. Molly had declared that morning that the cupboard was entirely too bare and that it was time to go shopping. For a smaller family this would not have required announcing, however in the Weasley household this involved packing up six boys and one girl, transporting them all safely to Traders Alley, insuring that none of them were lost or hurt or upset by something, and then of course there was the fact that not one of them seemed to like the same thing. Molly therefore went shopping only when absolutely necessary and only when a babysitter was not available in the form of one of Arthur's relatives. But on this particular day none were, and thus she was to be found in the bustling food market with seven children crowding around her.

Bill and Charlie were having an argument at time. Bill was fourteen, and Charlie was thirteen, both already at school and quite popular, and in this case were fighting over a girl, who incidentally didn't like either of them anyway. Percy, who was ten had just gotten a pair of glasses, and wore them like a badge of honor, his nose stuck in the air, possibly to keep the large frames from falling off his nose. Fred and George both eight years old, were trying to sneak away in order to look at Quality Quidditch supplies in Diagon, and only halted by the spell their mother had cast before leaving the floo station to keep her brood close. Ron was five and quite sure he was a grown up now, and should not have to look after his little sister, who was a lowly four year old, not even a full hand of years old! He instead tried to tag along with Fred and George, whom were not pleased at being interrupted in their attempt to sneak an old witches wand out of her pocket to deactivate the spell prison.

Ginevra as usual said nothing, merely watching. She watched as witches and wizards bustled by, divided without thought into classes, those representing companies or pureblood families getting the most respect from various food vendors hoping for big orders, followed by those with money to spare and finally those like her mother who were forced to yell and make a show of themselves in order to attract the attention of the sellers.

She noticed a sad looking man in tattered robes look with mixed anger and sadness at a moving model of the solar system, focused on earth and the white pearl that was its satellite. She watched older boys and girls flit threw the crowds, feigning interest in one another, then when the other was not looking, glancing at others more attractive then their current partner. A house elf was kicked out of the way casually and no one blinked an eye. A goblin was given a wide birth as he passed, wizards in his wake glaring, muttering curses to themselves, or darting a hand to their purses. Smells wafted over the tents, spices, dishes and food from all over the world served on the adjoining street of Rayne's Close which led into the international portions of Wizarding London - where the more despised members of society were more free to move about. Not just the darker ones like hags, werewolves, and vampires, but also sentient Asian youkai, centaurs, and fae.

The spell tugged her along as her mother bustled from stall to stall, bartering for the lowest possible price, giving up the painfully gained sickles with great reluctance in return for the most basic of ingredients. It was when the fruit stand was reached however that great dread came upon Molly's face. The children could be made to eat most meats, cheeses, breads and vegetables, but when it came to fruit each was entirely different, and Ginny still didn't have a favorite, though she had many she refused to eat.

Molly pulled out her wand, and was just in time to keep Bill, Charlie, Fred, George and Ron from rushing to the counter in order to claim to have chosen their fruit first. Percy had been shoved backwards by Fred in his excitement and was now on the ground looking very frustrated and put upon. Ginny was standing a distance away, looking at the fruits with mild interest, discarding fruits as she looked.

"MUM!" came the joined shout from the Weasley boys now frozen in mid leap from the swift spell.

Molly ignored their complaints and turned, slowly to look at her youngest. Molly valued fairness, as of course any Gryffindor would, and it was tradition that each child should pick the fruit of the week in order from eldest to youngest. Ron had been last and had chosen his new favorite fruit (oranges to match his Chudley Cannons sticker he had gotten the day before) now it was Ginny's turn. And Ginny's fruit always lasted longest, because everyone else had little interest in eating them. She had tried dragon fruit, coconuts, cherries, tangerines, bananas, clementine's, blue berries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and peaches. She had tried watermelons, apricots, cantaloupe, kiwis, grapefruit, pineapples, pears, plums and dates. She'd tried grapes and apples, leeche fruit from Japan and cranberries from the United Wizarding States. None had appealed to the girls palate and Molly was beginning to give up hope, she could not think that there were any fruits that Ginny would ever like.

Ginny said nothing, ignoring the groans from her still frozen brothers. She then stepped forward lightly, her sun dress sweeping around her to reach out and take a lemon in her hand.

"Oh no Ginny dear, you won't like those. Lemons are very sour." Molly immediately interrupted. Ginny's eyes swept to look at her, dismissed her as unimportant, and without warning bit into the lemon. Her family gasped, Percy straightened intending to lecture her on listening to their mother, when Ginny let go of the lemon, it's juice dripping down her chin, and said. "eleven of these please." to the vendor. She took the offered bag and walked forward, stopping only when she reached the edge of the spell, then turned her head and said clearly, "Are you coming?"

Molly wondered if anything about her daughter would be normal.

**AN - please read and review! :)**


	3. of blood and knives

**Ginerva in Darkness**

**Chapter 3**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy  
**

**Disclaimer - I solemnly swear that I am up to no good - but I'm not breaking copyrite laws at the moment. HP is not mine.  
**

Fred and George were twins. They had known that since they were born. And being twins meant they didn't need anyone else. They were perfect on their own, and therefore everyone else was expendable. Not that they thought that in those exact words, but the end result was the same.

So it was that their pranking nature lead them to test their skills on their siblings. Usually Percy or Ron, but occasionally they pranked their little sister since, as they put it, they didn't want her to feel left out. To be honest Ginevra creeped them out a bit. They would go into her bedroom and find her pulling the wings off doxys, watching with fascination as the tiny things screamed. Molly had screamed at her for that, when the twins let it slip, but they knew, by the way her dark eyes lit up every time she saw one that she continued her experiments when their mother wasn't looking.

Another thing was that she never smiled. Not when given presents, not when they attempted to tickle her when she was three. Not at stories, or games, not at relatives or animals. When they went to the Wizarding Zoo in London for Ron's sixth birthday the unicorns had seen her and screamed in terror, eyes rolling with fear showing their whites, and cantering to the other side of the paddock, sweating and shaking with fear. The guards had decided it was the presence of non-virgins in the crowd (parents weren't allowed near the unicorn paddock). Fred and George noticed Ginny had shown something like a smile but was more like a gleeful barring of teeth. She also had a habit of answering voices none of the rest of them could hear, and her answers were never pleasant.

But, after all she was their sister, and as such, they felt her entitled to their pranks. So on one rainy morning at the Burrow, the two grabbed the petite girl by each arm and dragged her to a corner, where they pulled out a red lolly pop they had gotten from their friend Lee Jordan the previous week.

"Hey Gin-"

"Would you like-"

"-a sweet?"

Ginevra looked at them, face blank. "I don't like sweets." she said in a bored voice, uninterested.

The twins shuddered slightly - Ginny was at her worst when she was bored, but waved it off. "It's not a normal sweet Gin-"

"It's special-"

"Tastes like lemons!" George added with sudden inspiration.

Ginevra looked contemplatively at the lollipop in his hand. "It's red." she noted.

Fred looked at George. "It's, uh, African lemon flavored! Those are red."

Ginevra seemed to think this over, then seemed to shrug and nodded and wordlessly held out her chubby hand for the sweet.

George handed it to her with a grin at his twin, and both watched in anticipation as she removed the wrapper and placed the red lolly in her mouth. She frowned slightly. Both grinned, awaiting her scream as a girl ought to do when finding themselves eating a blood pop, made for vampires, only to find the grins whipped from their faces.

"It's not lemon." she noted, twirling the sweet in her mouth, her eyelids becoming half lidded in pleasure at the coppery, rich flavor, the juice sliding down her chin, staining it red, as well as her lips and tongue.

Fred looked at George. "Um...Gin that's a blood pop..." he cringed waiting for the scream. But there was none.

"Hmm. Better then lemons." she murmured before turning and walking away with the lolly in her mouth, leaving the twins stunned, wondering who or what their sister was.

When Ginevra asked their Mum the next day to pick her up some blood pops, interrupting her reading on the death of the latest slayer in the Daily Prophet, she had demanded to know who had given her some. Ginevra had answered and as a result George and Fred found themselves grounded for a month, restricted to their room, their Mum screeching about their trying to turn their sister into a vampire. To be honest neither were unhappy about the arrangement, Ginevra never came in their room.

)o()o()o()o()o(

Ron Weasley was NOT afraid of the dark. But his way of not being afraid of the dark, he knew, was different from his sisters. He wasn't afraid of the dark, because at the age of seven he stood firm against the darkness like a good Gryffindor should, he was a shield, a beacon of light. His sister wasn't afraid of the dark either. She was part of it. It seemed to embrace her at every opportunity. It scared him. She scared him. But he ignored his instincts' screams and continued his usual activities at the Burrow. Ginny was just a girl. A YOUNGER girl. Nothing to be scared of he tried to tell himself. That didn't stop him from avoiding her though.

He turned from his Wizards Jr. chess set, a second hand present from Percy last Christmas, and glanced around the fire lit room. Fred and George were doing that annoying twin thing where they were talking, but only a word or two here and there out loud, nothing like a sentence because the other instantly knew what the other was thinking and so they had no use for more words. Hopefully not another prank on him. He was still shaking from the spider prank. Percy was reading a book, as usual. Charlie was upstairs somewhere, his Mum was cooking in the kitchen and all the usual noises of home hit his ears. He knew where everyone was. Except...he fought down instinctual panic. He didn't know where she was. Like a rabbit being hunted his eyes darted around the room, his heart pounding, searching for the dark eyes and blood red hair, and finally found her.

She was in a corner, her hair a tangle of red around her, her eyes shadowed, reflecting the fire she was absorbed in watching, transfixed. She was playing absently with a butter knife she'd picked up from the table earlier. She had a habit of playing with sharp things. Knives, rusty nails, pieces of glass. She never cut herself by accident, but if you surprised her when she was absorbed in it, watching light reflect off the blade, she would glance at you and you would find yourself instinctively drawing back, sensing her internal debate on whether to punish your intrusion or not. Ron shuddered.

Other peoples little sisters weren't like this, he knew. Loony Lovegood wasn't like this. She was odd but not like Ginny. Loony was like a cat who'd been hit on the head a couple too many times by a self sweeping broom, always staring wide eyed and curious. Ginny was different. Ginny was a predator in the shape of a little girl. She was some otherworldly being, a changeling biding her time until she ripped you apart. Impatient, cruel, curious and bloodthirsty. A dementor's child. She filled the air around her with draining coldness that caused shudders down your spine.

He had been staring too long. Her eyes flicked from the fire to his, and fixed on him. No expression crossed her face, she was utterly still, her play with the knife paused, but something in her eyes showed predatory amusement, like a snake watching a mouse. Exalting in her power and enjoying his fear. She was still looking at him when he forced himself to look away.

Ron Weasley wasn't afraid of the dark. Unless his sister was in it. Then he was terrified.

**AN- a few of the weasley brothers reactions to Ginevra. I don't like doing Molly all the time after all. I decided just doing the blood pops was too short, so I tacked on Rons feelings on his sister in too. And her love of pointy things. ^.^ Please review!**


	4. of Nundus and Dark Swans

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Chapter 4**

**By Virginia Riddle Malfoy**

**Disclaimer - I own a lot of Harry Potter stuff, but I don't own Harry Potter. That belongs to her worshipfullness J. k. Rowling, and she has shown no inclination to share with me as of yet. Guy the vampire belongs to me as does Blake Nott and Dawson Flint and the voices in Ginny's head. ^.^**

Charlie was the best seeker Hogwarts had seen in years, but his true passion was wild beasts, more specifically dragons. But in his aiming toward a career in that area he also learned a great deal about other magical creatures as well. He entertained himself in Transfiguration class by deciding a (technically impossible) magical animagus form for all his siblings. Bill was a Erumpent he decided, tall, big and hard to anger but once aroused quite scary. Percy was a Glumbumble, tending to cause melancholy in everyone around him if they spent to much time around him. Fred and George were imps of course, even his mother said so, which made their forms rather a dull thing to contemplate - a stark contrast with how lively they were. Ron was a yeti, tall already for his age, constantly eating things, hotheaded and easily taken down by a competent wizard. His thoughts turned reluctantly to his youngest sibling. His other siblings were all basically harmless, either of good temperament if they were dangerous, or harmless. Gin was different.

Gin was not what little girls should be. She wasn't a pixie, or a phoenix, a niffler or a moon calf, all pretty, sweet or delicate. She was, he thought to himself, doodling in the margins of his transfiguration text book, closest to a Nundu. The wild African leopard, among the most dangerous animals in the magical world, it's breath caused plague and disease in its wake when it chose to open it's mouth.

Charlie shuddered in the warm classroom. He hoped she would never have cause to unleash herself on another, she would cheerfully watch the world burn. She lounged around the Burrow like a young wild cat, observing the goings on in her domain and feeling lethargic amusement at the prey running around living their lives around her.

She was restless. Charlie had enough experience with dangerous animals to see that. She wanted more, wanted freedom from the constraints her age and their parents placed upon her. He could always tell when she was bored and antsy, when he would come upon blood pop wrappers in odd places leaving her mouth stained with blood for hours. When she would spend more time absorbed in her knives then usual. When she prowled around the house, enclosed in shadows so that you wouldn't know she was there, unblinkingly watching her family with calculating interest, her eyes lingering at throat, heart, and wand. Charlie often felt as he thought he would if he ever faced a basilisk, as though she was planning, not for any particular purpose but boredom, what the funniest way of killing them off would be. They were nothing more to her then tiny pieces on a chessboard she amused herself with while awaiting a worthy opponent for a game that would affect the wizarding world in a huge way.

"Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall's voice broke in and he was torn from his thoughts and returning to class, away from the nundu hunting in the Burrow.

)o()o()o()o()o(

"Alright you lot, everyone knows what to say, yes? Diagon Alley, nice and clear! Fred, George if you get lost your Mum will skin my hide so please no tricks!" Arthur said pleadingly. It was Fred and George's first year at Hogwarts, which meant it was time to go shopping in Diagon. Usually he would try to get someone to watch the younger children, but like the grocery trip that lead to the prevalence of lemons in the Burrow, there was simply no one available.

"Course Dad-"

"No worries-"

"Wouldn't want-"

"Mum to kill you-"

"We've only just broken you in!" Fred (he thought it was Fred) finished with a laugh. Arthur sighed and sent Bill first, so as to keep his younger siblings from running amuck in the Leaky Cauldron.

He made sure Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, Ron and Ginny went through before going himself. He arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, landing with ease in the grate that came only from practice, and did a quick head count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... Good that's- WRONG. Merlin, where was Ginny?

"Boys, where's your sister?" He asked, desperately hoping she'd just run to the loo.

"She never came through Dad." Bill replied with a frown.

"Bloody hell. Molly's going to kill me." Arthur muttered.

)o()o()o()o()o(

This was not the Leaky Cauldron. This was somewhere FAR more interesting. Ginevra decided. The room she'd arrived in was dark, full of cobwebs and dust and dark feelings. This was nothing like the silly white magic her parents used. This was MAGIC. Dark, thick as syrup, sweet and tempting it wove around her, filling the shop with it's essence. This was better then her knives. The shop was positively singing to her. Her eyes went to half mast in pleasure, a rapturous sound escaped her parted lips as she stepped from the fireplace. The window read (backwards) _Borgin and Burkes - objects with unusual and powerful qualities_. Had she the equipment for it she would have been purring. As it was she gave a toothy smile.

She wandered the room, curiously examining the various objects for sale: rusty objects used during the time of the witch burnings to torture muggles for their attempts against their betters, human skulls, a hangman's rope beneath which a card said it had been used by muggles to hang the illustrious sorcerer Alistair Crowley, whom they had first drugged with the help of a muggle servant girl.

Her hand-me-downs swept the dusty floor as she walked, leaving marginally cleaner floor in her wake. She made her way to a glass case holding several knives, a cruel smile crossing her face at the sight of the deadly instruments. Knives for removing human skin guaranteed not to damage the skin if one desired it as a pelt. A cut throat razor with BB engraved in the handle who's legend detailed it had been used by one muggle to kill close to a hundred others in the 1800s. There was a ceremonial dagger used by some famous potions master who killed himself with it. A knife with Grindelwald's symbol engraved on the blade which reported to have been owned by one of his top agents.

But what caught her attention was a plain looking knife. It was small, the blade was plated silver, and very sharp. The grip was simple black dragon hide. It was the stone set in it that caught the small girls attention and held it like a muggle magnet. It was a bloodstone, a true blood-stone. True blood-stones were rare, and very valuable. Most of them belonged to dark families, like the Blacks, The Parkinsons, and the Selwyns. If the Weasleys had ever had one it had been sold, stolen or gone missing long ago.

Her spidery fingers danced over the case, her eyes filled with greed and longing. Here was a symbol of what her family SHOULD be. Not the white magic, muggle loving, ignorant sheep, but powerful, pure, and in touch with their heritage, the heritage of all pureblood families. Dark magic, magic that burned and cut a swath through the unworthy, scourging the earth leaving only shadow in its wake.

She did not hear the door jingle behind her, did not see anything but the knife until a shadow fell over it's gleaming blade. She spun, to see a tall imposing blond haired wizard, a silver snake cane held in one hand looking at her with curiosity. "Lost?" he questioned, the slightest trace of mocking in his cultured voice.

She considered him, her eyes sweeping up and down his frame, taking in the expensive robes, the carefully buttoned wrist cuffs of his robes blocking all view of his forearms, his cold silver eyes and pureblood features. Here was someone who was as at home in the dark as she. His magic caressed hers, unconsciously exploring it's new discovery while its owner waited patiently for a reply. Here was a new toy for her to play with!

"No." she finally answered, simply. "I know where I am."

The taller man raised an eyebrow. "Rather an unusual place for a young Weasley to venture into by herself." he challenged.

"An unusual place also for a wizard who was only just cleared of the charges of aiding the Dark Lords cause, Lord Malfoy." she answered calmly, her eyes clear and a smirk teasing the edges of her mouth as she challenged the pureblood nobleman.

"Indeed. It appears we are both somewhat, unusual for our positions." He glanced over her to see what she was looking at. "And looking at an unusual toy."

She glanced at him lazily, playing with one of her blood pops from her pocket. "I want it." She said with a child's simplicity and conviction.

He glanced down at her amused. "Do you understand the purpose of a bloodstone knife Miss Weasley? I was unaware that Arthur bred such an unusual trait in his children."

She said nothing, slipping the sweet into her mouth. He observed it with interest. "I believe I can offer you the knife if you so desire." He told her after a moments thought. "I will pay for the knife, provided you accompany me to lunch. Pride in blood purity is such a rare trait in a Weasley, I feel it's my duty to introduce you to others more... worthy of the name of Wizard then those you may have met before. Is that agreeable to you?"

Ginevra glanced at the older man, her magic was swollen with pleasure, eagerly touching the dark magic of the shop, the man before her, the knife behind her, the touch of it left her breathing deeply, shaking in delight. "I accept your offer Lord Malfoy. I would enjoy accompanying you to lunch."

"Excellent."

)o()o()o()o()o()o(

This was beyond anything he had ever conceived of as far as vengeance was concerned. The on going rivalry between himself and Arthur had been years in the making, since Hogwarts in fact, and the idea that he would have such an opportunity dropped into his lap was one of great pleasure for the senior Malfoy. A dark Weasley, such a beautiful thought. And she was dark. The darkness was saturated in her every pore, pure and undiluted, as of yet without direction, but powerful, beautiful and deadly. Delicious. It would break Arthur's heart too. His youngest and only daughter, taken under the wing of the House of Malfoy. The name Weasley would be worthy of it's pureblood status for the first time in centuries.

And where better to show off his findings then the Dark Swan? He'd had a lunch planned there with Walden MacNair, Blake Nott, Dawson Flint and Guy, a vampire acquaintance from his death-eater days. They would be equally fascinated with the young girl he was sure. But she was his find, he thought possessively. _Mine._

Procuring the knife was a simple matter, Burke was always happy with a sale from the Malfoy family, and ignored the little Weasley with the ease of someone who's business thrived on the motto "ask no questions and you can't be arrested as an accessory."

He was aware of the little witch's magic, it rubbed against his own like a cat in heat, dark magic being sensual in nature and magic itself having no sense of age. He could feel hers examining Knockturn as they walked, eagerly dancing over the items and purveyors within Diagon's sinister sister. It was to be expected he thought indulgently. A young dark witch whose entire life, few years thought it had been, surrounded only by the bland, dull, intrusive white magic, of course her magic would be slightly over stimulated.

He lead the way to the Dark Swan, an upscale restaurant that catered to those of a more questionable sense of morality and a Gringotts vault that required expansion charms. Knockturn Alley was of course a retail devoted street, but it crossed on it's other end from Diagon, with Regal Alley. On the corner of this was The Dark Swan. He opened the door for his smaller companion, an amused smirk crossing his face as he watched hers go blank, expertly hiding her shock at the opulence of the dining room.

They were quickly lead to their table, where Nott, Guy and MacNair were already waiting. Nott raised an eyebrow. "Who's this Lucius? A new pet?"

Lucius sneered at him. "Look before speaking Nott."

"A little dark witch..." Guy purred in delight. "What a lovely creature Lucius, so small and pretty...and full of such delicious...magic." He leered at the tiny figure at his friends side who returned his stare with the look of one who's on a magic high.

"You're not human...what are you? Your magic tastes like death and ashes..." She murmured, leaning into Lucius's leg for balance, the magic around her overloading her senses like a drug.

"I'm what the uncultured call a vampire little one." He told her in amusement, wondering if she'd scream.

Ginevra looked at him in deep thought then asked "Does real blood taste anything like blood pops?"

Guy blinked at the apparent non-sequitur. "In my opinion it tastes far better. Why, do you have a taste for blood mon petite chat?"

She answered by snaking one small arm onto the table, and stealing his goblet and taking a sip. The other wizards watched her reaction with interest. She seemed to melt. "Yummy..." She licked the human blood from around her mouth with her little pink tongue. The four Dark Lord supporters looked at each other in amusement.

)o()o()o()o()o()o()o(

Arthur was frantic by this time. Knockturn Ally was the last place any Weasley belonged without a team of aurors at their backs. The darkness saturating the place caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. His entire being was against the magic of this place. His wand was clenched tightly in his hand. Why oh why was the Leaky Cauldrons floo overflow traffic sent to Knockturn alley? What idiotic bureaucrat decided that was a good idea? he muttered mentally, afraid to even think loudly in this dark place. Hags offered their wares in the closes off the main alley, darkened windows allowed glimpses of caged acromantula, human skulls, dark artifacts... He tugged his robes closer around himself, keeping a close eye out for a head of red hair. He would have to rely entirely on his sense of sight. Unlike the rest of his children Ginny's magic would not stand out in a place like this. It would fit in perfectly, in fact was darker then some of the others he could sense. But just because a persons magic was angled toward a certain type of magic didn't mean that was their path, he told himself, look at Mad Eye! He used his magic to catch dark wizards! And he was sure his daughter would do something similar. Of course she would...

He glanced furtively in various stores, each distressingly empty of any young red headed girls. He slunk into Borgin and Burkes, waiting until the proprietor finished bartering with a man of questionable species under a dark cloak before striking up his Gryffindor courage and demanding "Has a little girl come through here? she'd have come through the floo, about 4 feet tall, red hair, black robes?"

Burke looked at him like he was a piece of filth he'd found on his shoe. "It's not my business to watch the floo. Are you buying or selling? If not, get out."

Arthur puffed up indignantly, about to yell at the man, who raised a bored eyebrow and his wand and said "What are you doing to do about it light wizard? Cast a jelly legs jinx at me? Get out. You'll scare away my customers."

Arthur left in a huff, banging the door behind him, shuddering and pulling his cloak closer as the inhabitants of Knockturn looked at him curiously.

"Hallo dare dearie, looking for zomvone?" Arthur whirled and faced a pot-marked Erkling female in rags who peered up at him from waist height.

"Err... no thank you..." he stuttered backing away. Erklings were an elfin version of hags, known for eating small children, and if this one had found Ginny he didn't want to know what she'd done with her.

"Your little girl, ja?" she said making him freeze and turn warily. "You give me eines galleon, und I tell you vere zie ist, ja?" She held out a claw like hand expectantly.

Arthur frowned. "You take me to her and IF it's her I'll give you a galleon." He replied. For a Weasley a galleon was not something to be thrown about without a great deal of caution.

The Erkling frowned. "Und how do I know dat you are paying me?" She demanded.

"I swear to you on my magic as a wizard!" He replied proudly.

She shrugged. "Zat makes little difference do me, but vat haf I to loose, ja? Zis vay." she lead him down the street.

By the time the Erkling had lead Arthur to the Dark Swan Ginny had been missing for three hours. She stopped outside the restaurant. "Sie ist in zare, vit anoder vizard. You pay me now." He looked in the window and could make out a shock of red hair in a corner booth. He thrust the coin at the dark creature and without checking it make sure it was received entered the restaurant.

The impeccably robed Maitre De raised an eyebrow and sneered. "May I help you, sir?" He paused deliberately, the "sir" coming out as an insult.

Arthur glared at him. "I'm getting my daughter out of this damn dark cesspool." he snarled and stomped past him, catching the attention of the patrons at the other tables who looked on in interest at the offer of a free show.

The table came into view and Arthur felt sick. His daughter was curled up, an actual smile on her face, in the lap of Lucius Malfoy! Malfoy was playing with her curls absently, running his fingers through them like she was some damn pet! And she was listening with obvious delight to the stories being told by Walden MacNair and a vampire, who seemed to be competing for the most gruesome murder, her eyes shining in malicious glee.

"By this time of course the nails were making it a bit hard for the mudblood to breathe!" MacNair finished with a laugh. Ginny clapped her small hands together, Lucius smiling down on her like a doting father or something far more sinister. Arthur struck, snatching his youngest from her perch and away from the murderous pureblood bigots she'd been dinning with, in the process spilling a cup of what smelled suspiciously like blood on the table that had been in easy reach of his daughter all over Malfoy's robes.

"Ah, Arthur." Lucius looked up calmly. "You seem to have ruined my new robes. As I've had the absolute delight of meeting your daughter I won't ask for a replacement. I would like her to actually eat in the next year." He smirked as his companions laughed, and snickers from the other booths floated through the air.

Arthur grit his teeth. "I'll have you for kidnapping and MacNair for murder Malfoy!" He hissed angrily. "I heard the last bit of that story, I have no issue using it as evidence in court!"

Lucius smiled, "You intend to have poor Walden brought to court over a fairy tale he was telling? Surely you didn't believe he'd actually done such a thing! My, my Weasley, I had no idea you were so blood thirsty. As for kidnapping, I merely found her in Knockturn Ally and felt it was my civic duty to keep her safe from such... ruffians, as frequent those particular shops. Really it comes down to your negligence letting her wander around like that. She can't be more then seven."

Arthur was positively shaking with rage, his ears were bright red and his hands clenched at his sides, his glasses fogged up.

"I'm nine actually. My birthdays August eleventh." Ginny said calmly peering out from behind him, her laxidasical attitude mirroring those of the men in front of her.

"Really? My most sincere apologies Ginevra, I meant no insult. I shall make it up to you, perhaps a belated birthday present?" Lucius replied graciously, both ignoring Arthur.

"YOU'VE GIVEN HER MORE THAN ENOUGH YOU DEATH-EATER SLIME! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Arthur yelled, his voice breaking in the middle and grabbing Ginny by the hand in order to drag her from the restaurant. She waved goodbye to her new friends who waved back, amused at the display of barbarianism.

"Pity, she didn't finish her muggle..." Guy shook his head at the wasted blood on Lucius robes as he cleaned it with a wave of his wand. "Still, plenty more where that came from!" He said in a stage voice, easily reaching Arthur's red ears.

Arthur slammed the door behind him. The mocking laughter was still audible as he dragged Ginny to Diagon Ally, pulling too fast for her short legs to catch up to him.

As a result of this event Ginny was not allowed to leave the Burrow for another year. The present sent by the Malfoys a couple days later was burned unopened in front of her and she was sent to her room with no supper. Ginny merely shrugged at these punishments and sat on the floor of her pink painted room, watching the light reflect off her new knife which Lucius had thought ahead and warded to keep any but Ginny from being able to touch without her wanting them to, which upon discovery lead to another round of screaming from her parents until she looked up at them, unspeaking, her eyes as cold, cruel and sharp as the knife in her hands. Then both parents had backed out of the room, terror filling them from the glance of the small girl, causing them to trip over themselves, their instincts screaming to get away.

Ginevra traced her fingers over the blade and sang softly in her childish voice-

"Little knife you shall taste,

mudbloods and muggles blood,

witch and wizard, troll and ghoul,

all shall feel your sting

we will make their necks our chalice

and drink deep and sweet."

_  
**AN- Whooo, my Gin's a psycho! ^.^ Most of the creature information comes from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I didn't invent it. Sorry about my pathetic work with the accent of the Erkling, they're supposed to be German so I tried. I also used the HP lexicon for spelling, so if I got anything wrong please let me know so I can fix it! Special thanks to Mell8, KittyBlackCat, Courtney and Beth for reading over this, as well as Enter text for their help! You guys rock!**

**I tried to keep Arthur in character as best I could, he's sort of hard to get a good grasp on, he kept slipping through my fingers. Hopefully this turned out well. Going by what I wrote in the first chapter I only have getting her wand left absolutely necessary. I may write more anyway, this Ginny is fun to write, she's so delightfully evil, I'd like to see her interact with Tom. I'm not sure though. Let me know what you think! And please review!**


	5. of wands and puppies

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Chapter 5**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy**

**Harry Potter is not mine, it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers and a couple others possibly. I use it for fun not profit and hope my Ginevra entertains you all! Now on with the story!**

Percy Weasley was unlike his siblings he was proud to say. He was a prefect. And as a prefect it was his duty to be as perfect as possible, a goal unattainable by any of his other siblings, despite his frequent attempts to lead them toward that vaunted goal. Of course William had been Head Boy, but he had not done as Percy would one day in the close future do. Percy was a master of latter climbing. Prefect, Headboy, then the Ministry, then Head of a Ministry department or perhaps in the Minister's cabinet, then eventually Minister of Magic. A lofty goal but easily obtainable for one such as him.

Ronald's activities the previous year had been trying on his patience, taking away the professors attention to his own devotion to school rules and procedure, but this year would be different. Of course it was not Harry Potters fault. Percy graciously refrained from blaming him, but none the less you could not disagree that the boy had caused a bit of trouble. His younger brothers recent kidnapping of the boy had been none too amusing for him at least, and he was glad his mother if no one else agreed with him. Still, being in such close proximity to Harry Potter could only help his reputation, perhaps he would be willing to give his support to his eventual election to Minister of Magic. Yes, that would be excellent. For the moment however there were other things to deal with.

For example the fact that his littlest sister had achieved what no Weasley had achieved since Williams first year at Hogwarts: she'd gotten her own wand from Ollivander, rather then a hand-me-down or used wand. A wand that suited her perfectly, a wand that chose the witch. And Percy had to make do with his old Uncle Gideons after he died in the War which was unsuited to him. He often had to fight it to gain each spell, which only made him more worthy of his prefect-ship he thought loftily. But the fact remained of what had occurred that day was entirely unfair.

A week or so ago-

Ron was feeling quite pleased with himself. The past year had been extremely exciting, and frightening (though after the fact he was more then happy to forget that part and focus on his own bravery), and having Harry Potter as a best friend certainly made him important. And it certainly made him someone who could stand up against his own little sister! He'd faced Vol-Vol-He-who-must-not-be-named! (sort of)! He was officially a Gryffindor! It was time to get over this foolish fear of his own sister he decided fiercely. This lasted until he saw her waiting with his parents at the Hogwarts Express at the end of June, her mouth as usual stained red and her knife in her hands. Then all the dread and fear came roaring back like a hurricane.

But that was about to change. He thought happily, looking at the bespectacled boy sitting next to him at the breakfast table. Harry was here! Even Ginny wouldn't be able to scare him! Something would surely change! As though to punctuate his statement the stairs behind him creaked and judging by the hairs on the back of his neck standing to attention, Ginny had come down.

She took one look at Harry, gave a squeak of surprise and ran out again. "Ginny." He explained to Harry who was looking confused at her behavior. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer." This wasn't entirely a lie, it was more twisting the truth slightly. Ginny never ASKED anyone anything if she wanted information. She would give you a look and you would find yourself babbling anything she might want to know. So when he told of his and Harry's adventures (Edited slightly for his Mums sake) it had taken very little persuasion to get him to tell her everything later, about his habits, what he liked to eat, his school work, his adventures, his heroic defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the end of the school year. It made her eyes shine with unholy gleeful delight and she had accidentally bitten her blood pop in half with a large CRACK! in excitement.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph Harry!" Fred said with an empty grin until Mum glared at him. He gave George a slightly worried glance. Very dark spells could be done using a persons signature, and it would not be beyond their sister to do something to The-Boy-Who-Lived. For whatever reason he had stirred her interest, which was not a safe thing for anyone to do. He shuddered slightly, George mirroring his action, his mind clearly in the same place.

)o()o()o()o()o()o(

Ginevra slammed the door shut and slid against it till she reached the floor. How utterly lovely. She thought happily. Such wonderful magic coming from her new toy. It was not the boys of course, she could easily taste his own magic which was obviously originally pure white. No it was HIS magic, it was the magic coming from the scar, the thin thread of magic that dripped with dark magic and glowed the green of the killing curse. It had taken her completely by surprise, she'd had very little exposure to dark magic of any sort, it having been two years since the events at the Dark Swan. It was obviously somehow connected to Voldemort and she could feel her magic trembling in aftershocks of pleasure at even this tiny exposure. Oh yes, the boy himself may be boring, ordinary, but the one he was linked with was not. He was her TRUE partner for the game. Until he revealed himself however, Harry would do as a pet. She looked forward to making him bark. She licked her lips in anticipation hugging her self gleefully. This would be fun!

She waited patiently until her heart beat settled, her breath became even, and her body stopped quivering from magical aftershocks. It took a while before she could stand and begin to search her room for a jumper. White wizards like her new pet wouldn't take to what they thought was a Dark Witch, and even untrained he would be on alert around her, his magic sensing it and warning his subconscious. So the only thing to do was to make him question his instincts to the point where he ignored them entirely. Which meant playing nice. She grimaced as she brushed her hair. How very ... distasteful. But the rewards and fun might would be worth it. And her body was already quivering, wanting to be close to that darkness again. She began to spin and twirl around the room, mad delight, pleasure and anticipation bubbling up inside her coming out in a shriek of glee.

She was interrupted by a hoot at her window, and she stopped sharply, leaving herself swaying with dizziness and pleasure. "Hello Nero." She purred darkly, undulating slowly toward the bird who looked askance at the girl his master sent him to every few months. He held out his clawed talon carefully. The one time another owl had cut her by accident she had ripped out several of his tail feathers in revenge, making it very difficult to fly back, and he was smart enough to learn from others mistakes. Ginevra relieved him of the package and opened it. Inside a note written in an elegant hand read-

_My Dear Ginevra,_

_Many happy returns on your acceptance to Hogwarts. As a school governor, I of course have access to the lists of the incoming class. I had no doubt of your acceptance and quality. Guy sends his belated birthday wishes, and hopes you'll join us for a pint again soon. I intend to visit London soon with my son Draco, whom you've not yet met, let me know when you shall be going to get your own supplies and we shall attempt to meet up at some point._

_Arthur's raids have been causing trouble all over, although I've heard he got delayed in raiding the Flint's Manor due to certain documents going missing from his home, very convenient. Dawson wished to thank you and as such you shall find a voucher for Ollivanders in the bag._

_As we discussed I have sent a copy of the traditional Malfoy contract of patronage, should you find it acceptable simply fill it out and send it back with Nero. Also included are gifts from my wife and son to celebrate your first year at Hogwarts. They are of course yours regardless of what you decide about the contract. I apologize for the briefness of this note, however I wished to send this prior to my leaving for the ministry._

_Once again congratulations my dear._

_Yours fondly,_

_Lucius Abraxious Malfoy_

Ginevra hummed in delight, opening the box and taking out the individual packages inside. On top was a small velvet bag which when opened contained a parchment with the Ollivanders seal on it. This was Dawson s gift obviously. Beneath it was a wrapped gift from Guy which proved to be blood pops made of actual muggle blood, each individually labeled A, B, O, and AB. She promptly put a type B into her mouth and sucked on it lazily as she opened the next gift. A necklace was inside, a delicate silver chain holding a pendent shaped like a triple moon, rather then the usual full moon between the two crescents however was a dark opal, showing the new moon. She crooned softly as she touched it. "Presents for Princess." She singsonged to herself, as she lifted her dark hair and fastened it. A note in the box read that it was a gift from his son, Draconious Malfoy, whom she had heard her youngest brother complain of constantly. A smirk flitted about her mouth, if he was wasting his time playing with her brother then clearly he was not yet up to his fathers level, she might be able to fix that however, it could be fun so she filed the thought away.

The rest of the package proved to contain a formal letter of contract of patronage from Lucius, which she read over and then filled in, noting that as her patron he provided for her, but also had the right to veto a choice of husband for her short of fulfilling a life debt. Interesting. Still it would prove far more advantageous to be his subject then it would be to refuse such a generous offer. The Malfoy's were well known, and hadn't taken the roll of Patron for over one hundred years. It would insure that should anything occur, such as her precious family disowning her as she got older, she would not be left worthless or at the mercy of the Ministry, but would instead be put into the care of her patron. They would also insure any medical expenses were taken care of, finding her an eventual apprenticeship with a Master in whatever discipline she eventually choose, and would offer networking later. In return she would always have a dept to them, and as the patron-ship was usually given to those who had huge potential, usually leading to mastership in one or more disciplines, they often were called on to tutor the next few generations before their attendance at Hogwarts, to aid in any attempts at Mastery by the scions of the patron family, and if they had need of a Master of her abilities she would be required to fulfill their needs without charge but for supplies. More then acceptable she decided as she carefully rolled the parchment and placed it in a waterproof tube to be sent back with Nero.

Beneath this was Potions: An Encyclopedia of Ingredients, Uses, Techniques and Recipes, which was inscribed "_To Ginevra with greatest hope for the future, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black._" She glanced through it with interest. She had listened to her brothers complaints for years about Professor Snape's strictness, only Percy going to the effort of actually studying before hand, but naturally Snape had known it was a brown nosing attempt rather then any real care for the art of potion making. She had read through her brothers old books in her spare time (of which she had a great deal) earlier that year, but this would be far more informative, and she hummed happily. It had an entire section on poisons, potions, herbs and technique. Lovely. She sent off a thank you note and the completed form with Nero and settled down with her new book with a hum of pleasure.

)o()o()o()o()o(

This was getting insufferable. Ginevra scowled at her plate, causing her family to edge carefully away from her. Every time she got NEAR Harry she was hit with his connection and would drop things, loose her concentration, or end up putting her elbow in the butter dish. She knew she was more sensitive to magical auras then was normal, but this was getting ridiculous! Her pet thought she had FEELINGS for him! As though someone like him was worthy of HER affection as anything more then an amusement or a pet. Her normally pale face would burn in frustration and anger, as well as annoyance. The pleasure she gained from being near his link and the dark magic it contained was not worth humiliating herself on an hourly basis! Her brothers were getting cocky as a result, and Molly actually had the gall to try to have a "girl talk" with her regarding her "growing feelings". She had stared with blank eyes at the old woman with utter disgust rolling off her at the very idea until Molly had given a soft whimper and run out of the room. Ginevra had been forced to find her knife and some doxies, which was the easiest way to vent her frustration, although torturing Scabbers was fun too. The fat rat made the most delightful squeaks of pain. He was very good at hiding though, very clever for a rat.

She raised her head as a hoot announced the post had arrived. A proud looking owl was just letting Arthur relieve it's letters when it met her eyes and gave a screech of shock and fear and flew as fast as its wings would take it out the window, leaving Arthur holding the slightly torn envelopes. Ginevra smirked and wordlessly held out her hand for her own Hogwarts letter. The envelope read in a neat but cramped handwriting-

Ginevra Weasley

The Pink Bedroom

The Burrow,

Ottery St. Catchpole England

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, first class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Weasley,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later then 31 July._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Ginevra raised her head as Ron and Harry came down the stairs, as he turned to look at the table the thread hit her and she knocked over her porridge bowl. 'Of course.' she snarled mentally, picking it up from under the table and slammed it onto the table, her face heating once more. Harry politely ignored this, and sat down and took the toast Molly offered him. Ron noticed her foul mood and quickly went to sit on Harry's other side.

"Letters from school!" said Arthur, passing Harry and Ron identical envelopes of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink. "Dumbledore knows you're here Harry-doesn't miss a trick, that man. You two've got 'em too." He added, as the twins joined the table, wearing each others pajamas. Ginevra blocked their prattle out, and read through the shopping list.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Uniform-_

_First year students will require-_  
_1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_3. one pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_  
_Please note all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

_Set books-_

_All students should have a copy of each of the following-_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

_A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

_Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart_

_Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart_

Ginevra sneered. Lockhart was the subject of the Defense Lessons? Everyone with a brain knew Lockhart's books had about as much usefulness as a bodice ripper. Molly of course, thought he was an Adonis. She would have to find out if Lucius would provide a tutor for her Defense classes, if this was the book list it was highly unlikely anything worthwhile would be taught. She returned to the list.

_Other Equipment -_

_1 wand_

_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_1 set glass or crystal vials_

_1 telescope_

_1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

As though her parents would actually get her a familiar after the last time. They had tried to tame her by presenting her with a puffskein. The stupid thing was more docile then a house elf. She ended up tricking Fred into using it for bludger practice just to get rid of the stupid thing. Any creature worthy of her would be out of the Weasley's price range, especially with the idiotic Lockhart books being required for five of the Weasley children. She had her new puppy anyway.

Fred thoughts were apparently running along similar lines, as he peered at Harry's list. "You've been told to get all Lockhart's books, too!" he said stating the obvious. "The new Defense Against the Dark arts teacher must be a fan-bet it's a witch." He caught Molly's eye and started fiddling with the condiments.

"This lot won't come cheap." George said worriedly, glancing at Molly and Arthur. "Lockhart's books are really expensive..."

"Well, we'll manage." Molly said, but she looked worried. "I expect we'll be able to pick up a lot of Ginny's things secondhand." Wonderful. Not only more hand-me-downs, now it was things tossed out by OTHER people. She glanced up as Harry asked "Oh, are you starting at Hogwarts this year?"

She nodded, holding back from rolling her eyes, her face warming again. Being in direct contact with the string, and distracted, she once again found her elbow in the butter dish. No one other then Harry noticed, and he stayed quiet, a good start for a pet. She sneered in disgust at herself, cleaning the butter off with a napkin. She had best sit away from her pet at Hogwarts. It would be inexcusable to have such juvenile accidents around people who actually mattered.

Her attention was then diverted from her thoughts as Percy managed to sit on Errol who had apparently fainted on his chair. Ron grabbed the useless bird and pulling the letter off his leg, dropped Errol off at his perch. Which he promptly fainted off of, having not gained regained consciousness yet. "Pathetic." Ron said. Ginevra thought it was equally pathetic that he didn't notice the stupid bird was unconscious.

"He's got Hermione's answer. I wrote to her saying we were going to try and rescue you from the Dursleys." He told Harry eagerly, looking for the approval and thankfulness that covered the boy-hero's face before opening it and reading _"Dear Ron, and Harry if you're there, I hope everything went alright and that Harry is okay and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble too._ (the mudblood apparently had trouble with run on sentences.) _I've been really worried and if Harry is alright, will you please let me know at once, but perhaps it would be better to use a different owl, because I think another delivery might finish your one off._ (astute observation a familiar voice muttered in the back of her head) _I'm very busy with schoolwork of course-_ How can she be?" Ron exclaimed breaking the flow of the letter to exclaim "we're on holiday! _'and we're going to London next Wednesday to buy my new books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley? Let me know what's happening as soon as you can. Love from Hermione.' "_

"Well that fits in nicely, we can go and get all your things then, too." Molly chirped. "What're you all up to today?" The boys made their way to the apple orchard to practice quidditch. Ginevra didn't bother. Quidditch was only fun if you were a Beater or Seeker anyway, and none of the fun balls would be used. She made her way upstairs and began a letter alerting her new Patron that she would be in Diagon on Wednesday and spared the thought that they had best not try to stick her with the mudblood if she came to visit unless they wanted to annoy her. 

)o()o()o()o()o(

She was awoken the day of the London trip by Mollys tentative knocking on her door. "Wake up dear, we're going to Diagon Alley today!" She said before darting away, careful not to meet her daughters eyes. Ginevra gave a cat-like stretch and changed from her ratty pajamas into a slightly less ratty set of robes, ran a brush through her hair and put on the necklace young Draco had sent her, putting the velvet bag with the voucher in her pocket as she went.

She went downstairs to eat a bacon sandwich, before breaking out one of her O type blood pops. Molly gathered her brood to the fireplace (Ginevra, as usual had a foot of space around her) and removed the floo pot, muttered about running low, and offered the pot to Harry, who looked utterly confused until Ron remembered the boy had never used floo before.

Eventually they had Fred and George go first to show him how, and Harry stepped in, coughed out "-n alley!" and disappeared in a whoosh of green flames. This could be interesting. Ginevra thought to herself, toying with her knife idly as Ron, Percy and Arthur followed before taking her own floo powder and stepping into the fireplace and hummed "Diagon Alley." Her knife now safely up her sleeve.

Fireplaces whisked past her in a blur, her robes whipped around her as she spun. She twirled in place, exalting in the speed, before being dropped at the Leaky Cauldron with a dramatic green flame burst and a puff of ash and smoke. Sadly no one noticed her exit, as her family were all muttering together worriedly. And puppy was missing. Her previous lucidity slipped slightly, as she glanced around in search of her pet, stepping out of the fireplace, hushing the mental cacophony in her head as unproductive.

She caught her fathers eye and stared at him. He shivered and said "Harry seems to have gone missing Gin, we think he may have gotten off at the wrong grate." Ginevra frowned. _Bad_ puppy. He was going to get punished later. Molly burst out of the fireplace and began her usual wailing over her lost newly found son.

She grimaced and allowed herself to be dragged out of the Leaky Cauldron as Molly frantically glanced in each shop they passed searching for the boy, witches and wizards alike staring at the hysterical house witch dragging the frightening looking girl behind her. It took twenty or so minutes to make their way to Gringotts where the rest of the family, her puppy and a gigantic wild looking man were waiting. Arthur repaired puppy's glasses and handed them back, the wild man wondering off after a gruff goodbye.

The family made their way up the Gringotts stairs, and into the bank. Ginevra hid a smirk as the goblins nearest her subtly edged away in wariness. Puppy made his way to the line, as did her Mother, before they were lead by a grim looking goblin to the carts. The others in the cart screamed as they hurtled through space, the younger ones in delight although Ron looked sick. Ginevra was silent, her eyes glinting in pleasure at the dangerous cart ride. They arrived at the Weasley vault and Molly grabbed everything in there, a small pile of sickles, and one galleon. Pathetic. Arthur could easily provide better for her family if he hadn't been such a sentimental fool, staying in the muggle department rather then raising in the ministry as a pureblood could easily do. Puppy's vault was full of big piles of galleons, sickles and knuts. Ron looked jealously on as his best friend scooped some into a bag.

After that they headed off into Diagon, Molly with forced cheerfulness leading her to second and third hand stores. She ended up with a large pewter cauldron, with only one handle and dinged on more than one side, a rusty telescope with a cracked lens which Molly assured her she could fix, a set of scales that had to be over a hundred years old and had some sort of slime stuck to one of the baskets, and a mix of two different sorts of vials since both sets had broken or lost ones. From there they made their way to a second hand clothing store where Molly had managed to barter three robes, each torn, tattered, or stained in some way, a hat with a sad looking bent tip, a cloak with what might have once been silver colored fastenings, but had dulled to a dirty sort of gray, and at another store, a pair of very used dragon hide gloves which had a hole in one thumb and smelled like dragon dung.

Finally Molly walked her down the street toward another second hand shop while she talked about finding Ginevra a working wand. Ginevra however ignored her and made her way into Ollivanders, her mother sputtering protests behind her. She entered the dingy, cluttered store and walked forward to the counter and calmly rung the bell. There was a soft whoosh as a gray haired wizard came into view on a wheeled ladder to peer at her intently.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ollivander, we're not buying today, Ginny dear we can't afford to get you a new wand!" Molly hissed at her.

Ginevra ignored her and reaching into her pocket pulled out the voucher and placed it on the table, Molly's confused questions as to where she had gotten it going unanswered. Mr. Ollivander accepted it solemnly, and said "Miss Weasley, I must say I am pleasantly surprised to see you, I've not seen any of your brothers since William. Oak 12 and a half inches, stiff, containing one unicorn tail hair, not perfectly suited to him, from my discount bins of slightly damaged wands, but good for Charms work. It will be nice to fit a Weasley with a well chosen wand." He pulled out a tape measure and set it to measuring her while he pulled boxes off the shelves. He opened a box and offered her the wand within.

"Cherry 10 and a half inches, containing a unicorn mane hair, springy. Try-"

She grabbed the wand and held it at arms length, wisely as it turned out. It sent out a burst of unhappy magic that bounced off a mirror and broke a window pane behind her. She calmly handed it back.

"Obviously not." he muttered dryly, looking bemusedly at his window. He repaired it with a wave of the wand and returned it to the box, picking up another one. "Unicorns don't seem to like you young lady. Ebony, 9 inches and a third inches containing a dragon heart string, try..."

She waved it and was bare handed in seconds. Yew 14 1/4th inches. Ironwood 10 inches. Mahogany 8 1/2 inches. Dragon heart string, phoenix feather. No no no. A few hours later Mr. Ollivander seemed to be pouting. "I've found your wood, but you don't seem suited for any of my wand cores. I shall have to floo Gregorovitch. What's the time difference in Russia again?"

Molly made a soft sound of protest, but was ignored as the old wand maker made his way to an out of the way fireplace and stuck his head in the green flames after muttering something in Russian. A few minutes later he removed his head from the green flames. "Gregorovitch is on his way."

A few minutes later the flames turned green once more and a harried looking wizard with a trunk stepped out. He had a thick gray beard and springy white hair. "Vell Ollivander, ver is ze girl? I do not 'ave all day! Ah!" he saw Ginevra and stepped closer, poking at her with his wand. "Vell no vonder, she iz no von of yours! Come young lady, ve vill find your vand, da?" he turned to his trunk and enlarged it. "Vat is her vood Ollivander?"

"Sycamore." Ollivander replied coolly, his arms folded and clearly not happy having the other wand maker in his shop.

"Zequamor vood.. ah! Here ve go." Gregorovitch pulled out a second trunk from the larger one and popped it open, pulling several shelves from the inside, each containing sycamore wands of various lengths and cores. He started at the beginning and removed a short wand. "Contains veela hair ya? I think this is not your vand, but ve check." As he had supposed, the wand seemed to consider her and then reject her.

"Not to vorry. More vere zat came vrom." Wand after wand was discarded before finally he pulled out a 13 inch wand and offered it to her. "Core of lethivold skin, powervol, is good vor curses."

Ginevra took it and a vicious smile crossed her face. A blast of green came from the wand before it seemed to settle into her hand, humming quietly.

Gregorovitch smiled triumphantly. "I tell you Ollivander, you limit yourzelf vith zose vhite corez, vorld is not all vhite, is more complex zen zat. You is oving me sefen galleons da?" He looked toward Ginevra who looked at Ollivander, who, now obviously sulking, pulled seven galleons out of the till and handed it to his rival. Gregorovitch bit one, and finding it satisfactory, put the rest in his pocket and packed up his trunks.

"You take good care of vand young lady," he said "Polish ovten, no dropping vand, poking potions. Bah! Iz vand! Not stirrink zpoon!" He gave a nod in her direction, and then flooed out in a flash of green. Ollivander turned away and started putting away the wands. Clearly they were dismissed. Ginevra walked out of the store, Molly on her heels, twirling her wand in her spidery hands, frowning slightly at it until the tip lit with green when it hit the top of its rotation. Molly was quiet, staring at her, terror, confusion and disgust visible on her face as she watched her. Ginevra ignored her.

Ginevra and Molly entered Flourish and Blotts to find the shop packed. A large sign in the windows announced the cause-

**GILDEROY LOCKHART**

**will be signing copies of his autobiography**

**MAGICAL ME**

**Today 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.**

Molly gave a soft oooh! and began patting her hair attempting to look fetching for the author of the questionable books. Ginevra noticed her brothers and Harry making their way toward them. She frowned, puppy still needed to be punished for earlier. She gave a thoughtful glance at the big fop surrounded by pictures of himself at the head of the line not too far from them. Hmmm...

A short, angry looking man was taking pictures as they came to the head of the line. He growled something at Ron she didn't hear, but she focused instead, and sent out a tendril of magic toward to floppy haired twit, lightly poking him to get his attention. He raised his head, and catching site of puppy..."It CAN'T be Harry Potter!" She smirked. The perfect punishment for her disobedient puppy. She watched in amusement as Harry was dragged to the front, Lockhart shaking his hand like he was trying to remove it from his wrist. The photographer snapped photo after photo, while Harry looked confused and shell shocked. Finally Lockhart clasped him to his side and waved for quiet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!" Ginevra tensed. _No_. It couldn't be.

"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography-which I shall be happy to present him free of charge!-" The crowd ate it up. Ginevra remained tensed, one hand at her wand, the other in her sleeve fingering her knife. "He had NO IDEA that he would shortly be getting much, much more then my book, Magical Me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The crowd cheered and clapped and Ginevra had to fight down the urge to insert her knife into Lockhart's ear canal, telling herself there would be other opportunities. Harry meanwhile dumped a stack of colorful Lockhart books into her cauldron (in the process breaking one of her vials) muttering "You have these, I'll buy my own."

She was kept from responding by a drawling voice. "Bet you loved that didn't you Potter?" She watched in interest as puppy straightened and came face-to-face with a pale boy with white blond hair. This would be Draconous, she decided looking at him in interest. "Famous Harry Potter, can't even go into a BOOKSHOP without making the front page!"

Now that was a bit much, he was trivializing her punishment! That would not do, patrons son or not. "Leave him alone, _he_ didn't want all that!" she said, her eyes meeting his gray ones warningly. He unconsciously took a step back, his magic flared up around him in annoyance, before his eye was caught by the necklace he himself had chosen for his families new dependent. Interesting, why was she defending Potter? he wondered. "Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" he drawled absently. Ginevra flushed in anger. GIRLFRIEND! As though she would allow Harry equal status with _her_!

"Oh it's you." Ron said coming up behind them with a stack of loud colored Lockhart books. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," Draco replied "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those." He was basically correct in this assumption - they would be living entirely off the vegetable garden Molly grew, and the eggs from the chickens.

Ron dropped his book into her cauldron on top of Harry's, and she faintly heard another vial smash under the weight. He started toward Draco before Puppy and the annoying mudblood grabbed the back of his robes and pulled him away.

"Ron!" Arthur called over the noise of the book shop, the twins on his heels. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, lets go outside."

Ginevra sensed him before she saw him, his magic reaching out to caress hers which had been pulled against her body while surrounded by so many white witches and wizards. She gave a soft humming purr, and turned to see her patron joining his son. "Well, well well, Arthur Weasley."

"Lucius." Arthur said in a lukewarm welcome, nodding to the Lord Malfoy.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear." Lucius purred, "All those raids...I do hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into her by now very full cauldron and passed the Lockhart trash to pull out her copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, which was already falling apart at the seams. "Obviously not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" His magic prodded hers to get her attention, bringing her to watch his sleeves curiously.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." Arthur spat, his face redder then his hair.

"Clearly." Lucius sneered, glancing at the Mudblood's parents who'd been following Arthur around Diagon on a tour while he peppered them with inane questions. "The company you keep, Weasley..." Ginevra caught him slipping something into her transfiguration book while he finished "and I thought your family could sink no lower."

Her cauldron went flying, as Arthur's temper snapped and he lunged at her patron. Ginevra pulled out a blood pop as the two tussled, Lucius clearly having the advantage. She offered Draco another lolly while her brothers were distracted. He raised a curious eyebrow but waved it away politely. "I'll thank you not to promote my pet to stations above his worth Draconous." She murmured softly, her eyes flickering over to Harry who was cheering on Arthur. Draco raised an eyebrow but nodded. "My apologies. I misread the situation. The necklace suits you."

She did not get a chance to answer as the wild man from before came forward from amid the stacks of books (could he even read?) and pulled her father and patron apart. "Break it up gents, break it up!" He bellowed.

Arthur was clearly the worse off, hair mussed and a cut lip showing. Lucius had only been hit by chance by a falling book. He dropped her transfiguration book which had been in his hand the whole time, into her cauldron. "Here girl-take your book-its the best your father can give you." He pulled out of the wild mans hold and swept from the store, Draconous in his wake, his magic brushing against hers in farewell. Ginevra watched Molly lecture Arthur and wondered what had been so important that Lucius would allow himself to be dragged into a common muggle brawl for her, even if he had won.

It wasn't till that evening she had a chance to find out. Inside her transfiguration book was an old black leather bound book, which as she flipped through it proved to be a blank diary or journal. She frowned. It was water stained and obviously used, she didn't need more hand-me-downs. A note fell out reading in Lucius's hand - 'This should teach you a great deal which I and my family being unable to directly access you without considerable effort can not. I trust you to take excellent care of it. Treat it with caution.'

She hummed a curious note and put her bare hand to the pages of the book and gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head in delight, a moan escaping her lips. This was DARK. Deliciously so, equal to her puppy's thread. Not quite as Dark, but more of it, that was certain. She caressed the pages in rapture, her magic eagerly weaving in and out of the pages, thoroughly marking it with her magical signature. It combined with the already present Darker magic, and she blinked as she felt a spark of dark fire in its centre. She grinned curiously showing her teeth, having never come across anything like this before, and tentatively tapped it with a tendril of her magic. The flame drew in on itself and then grew, burning brighter, tugging at her magic, hungry for more. She narrowed her eyes and snapped her teeth playfully at the book. "Naughty naughty, shouldn't take without asking. I shall have to punish you later." She singsonged. She put aside the book, her magic both clinging to the Dark essence and drawing back from the flame within, wary.

This was going to be fun! A welcome escape from the unending bordom of her existance. She thought happily.

Above her Percy sulked at his sisters seemingly unnatural good luck. And in a little black diary a memory licked its metaphorical lips, still tasting that lovely young dark magic, eagerly anticipating his next taste.

**AN- Chapter 5 is LOOOOOOOOONG! I've decided to interweave my Ginny with canon like I did with Her Lord, that makes it all the more creepy in my opinion. REVIEW! I took a lot out of the books, those bits aren't mine, some are direct quotes, because since I'm weaving it into canon, characters still have to say the same things, even if Harry and Ginny hear them in very different ways. My thanks to RileyAnastasia for poking me and reminding me it's been several months since I updated. I've been on a Batman and DC universe kick lately, so if some of my info's wrong that's why.**

**Apologies if Gregorovitch's accent is awful, I tried. I'm not good at Russian accents. ^^;**

**Again, PLEASE REVIEW! and tell me your ideas for upcoming chapters! Tell me what you think of my deliciously mad Ginevra. I actually used her perspective on this chapter, which I feel like takes away from the character, so let me know what you think. I may rewrite it from other peoples perspectives if people agree with me.**


	6. of birthdays and diaries

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Chapter 6**

**Virginia-Riddle-Malfoy**

Disclaimer - They're mine! They're all mine! Mwahahahahahaha! Wait, what? Oh I thought you meant the books when you asked if Harry Potter belonged to me. I own the books! And the movies. And the sound tracks. And books on the books and ... Oh? The copyrights? No, sadly I still haven't purchased those. I thought I did at one point but it turned out the same guy on ebay got arrested for trying to sell the Brooklyn bridge. *shrug* oh well. Some day! ^^ Until then it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, Universal, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, etc.

Key -

)o()o( means change of scene, time or point of view

going from **bold** to _italics_ means a different person is writing.

"talking" duh.

** _yelling_** while writing (italic and bold)

I think that's it. You may want to go back and reread the other chapters before reading this. Or at least the last 2. There are some pieces of wizarding culture that aren't specifically in the books. Specifically religion (oh no!) I provide a bit of info about each one if you want to know more then research! It's good to learn! ^^ It's a part of culture people. Why do you think purebloods were so damn upset about muggleborns coming in? It wasn't just the whole blood thing. It was also their culture being altered! Ok. Rant done.

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The next month passed quickly for her new pet, but was unending for Ginevra. Her birthday fell on the eleventh of August and as usual the rest of her family couldn't resist an opportunity to celebrate in the most insipid manner possible... 

August 11th

Ginevra woke and glanced around her. Pink walls. Pink carpet. Pink, pink, pink and for a change baby yellow. Not for the first time she wondered what god she had offended in a past life to get stuck in the Weasley family and what she had to do to destroy them. It was her birthday however. The one day she wanted to STAY in the pink pastel monstrosity that was her room.

Her family would be the most aggravating today out of all days of the year. On this day they would purposely ignore any and all parts of her personality that did not fit their ideal of the perfect little girl, therefore they ignored her entirely, while at the same time covering her in useless sweets, gifts of frilly, poufy, girly dresses in pastel shades, asinine dolls that were charmed to say things like "Mama!" and "I love you!", tea sets, and last year romance novels of the sort her mother read had been added which horrified her with their inanity to the point where her accidental magic burned them at the breakfast table. The whole thing was a show they put on for themselves to convince themselves they were a normal happy family.

Ginevra sneered. And with her puppy here and her trying to train him to ignore his magic warning him about her, she would have to act like a normal child or chance losing her pet before she even began! That was unacceptable.

"Princess wants to rip out all their eyeballs and feed them to the chickens." she hummed to herself long ago having figured out that the only person worth talking to around the Burrow was herself, and that it unnerved her family when she spoke of herself in the third person.

She climbed out of bed, padding into the hall wearing only her thin white night gown Molly had given her in the hopes of feminizing her cruel daughter to little avail. The effect was that of a wraith her pale skin and dark eyes combined with the blood red of her curly hair mass, unbrushed and wild she looked like the ghost of a child bride, or a siren; her aura not helping matters. Ginevra was fully aware of this and accepted the color white for that reason. But pastels were absolutely out of the question. She walked past Fred, George, and Ron and opened the door of the bathroom they were lined up outside of. Percy looked up shocked and annoyed from the sink where he was fiddling with his prefect badge.

"Get out." Ginevra ordered. She might have to play along with the whole thing while Harry was around, but he was still in bed in Ron's room. She was getting her way. _"Now."_

Percy hesitated, but then seeing his little sisters eyes narrow in impatience and her red curls begin to twine together like the serpents of Medusa as they had been doing lately when she was peeved or particularly aggressive about something, he grabbed his things and darted out the door. She shut the door behind him without a sound, her eyes daring Fred, George and Ron to challenge her cutting ahead of them in line. None took the challenge.

_Boring_. There was no challenge at the Burrow anymore, just annoyance. She couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts. She smirked, her tiny white teeth shone in the light of the bathroom. She removed her nightgown and turned on the shower, remaining lost in thought. Because she was the first generation of post-war children, there had been a large boom in child births in the wizarding world, meaning the usual population of around eight to ten students per year per house would be increased. Even by the old numbers, there were at least two hundred and twenty four students to play with, with the addition of at least eighteen members of staff at any one time. And of course if she got really hard up for things to play with there were familiars and pets, the forbidden forest full of all sorts of things to experiment with, the library and the restricted section Tom had teased her with.

Oh yes, Tom was proving to be a most interesting gift. She thought as she washed the conditioning potion from her hair. She had first written to him two days after receiving the gift from Lucius. She wasn't stupid, nor was she so reckless that she would trust that tiny flame of Dark. She wanted it. Oh yes. It called to her like a drug. But she contented herself for the first couple days with familiarizing herself with her wand, lethifold core being rather volatile. It kept trying to absorb her magic, rather similarly to the diary really. But the lethifold wasn't sentient to the extent that the diary seemed to be. The wand was rather like an animal, you fed it regularly and it would serve you if it liked you, treat it badly and it would attempt to consume you. Thus she had gathered her magic and simply channeled it into the wand until it was vibrating with power and the core inside was sated. She would have to keep it full of her magic before directing more magic through it to do any spells, rather like a bagpipe had to be kept full of air to play, but this wasn't a bother. The little piece of lethifold was as happy as a vampire in a blood bank. It would serve her quite willingly after being starved in Gregorovich's trunk for who knows how long. The diary on the other hand... there she sensed was not just a tiny mouth that needed filling. It was a void that required a great deal more than what was easily skimmed off her magic, replaced within hours. What it was exactly she wasn't sure, although she could sense her magic trying to tell her.

She turned off the shower and stepped out of the tub standing before the mirror examining herself critically. Large deep set cold brown black eyes met their twin reflection, acknowledging long damp eyelashes, a small nose, cupids bow lips still red from the blood pop she'd eaten the night before. Light freckles on pale skin. A rather stubborn looking chin. Wet straggly curls, heavy with moisture fell down her slim freckled shoulders covering small budding breasts. Slim, pale and delicate arms lead to equally delicate looking hands, belying the strength and magic that surged beneath skin, through veins and curved around bone. Long thin little fingers ended in sharp nails stained red from her blood pop habit, simple soap not enough to remove it. A thin waist and still hairless pubic area were almost boyish, her legs long and wiry and knobby still as she balanced on the balls of her feet. She wasn't traditionally beautiful. No boys would line up at the door to court her as her mother had once dreamed. She was ethereal, unworldly, a child of the dark, even a muggle would feel a chill around her. Good.

She normally didn't pay much attention to her looks, ignoring mirrors, especially since wizarding mirrors tended to give annoying unwanted advice until you broke them a couple of times. However, she needed to see what others would see when looking at her. This was the face of Ginevra Molly (she sneered) Weasley. Yes. This would do nicely. She tossed her night gown in the hamper, and exited the door, ignoring her brothers stares, blushes and exclamations about her lack of any covering. She had nothing to be ashamed of. Except of course that at some point Harry had joined them. Of course. She muttered to herself mentally, only NOW does he decide to shower in the morning. She could feel her skin blushing, from her head to her toes. Her pet was similarly embarrassed and had covered his glasses with a hand muttering "Sorry Ginny."

Cue "Ginny" response. "Sorry Harry! Forgot to check for a towel! Whoever was in there last must have used mine!" she chirped, hiding a grimace.

"Oh, um, guess that was me. Sorry Ginny." Harry muttered. "Should've guessed since it was pink and all, your favorite color right?" he was trying to be cute. How...pathetic. This was one thing she couldn't stand him believing though.

"No, Mum always gives me pink stuff. I like red, like Gryffindor! And I'll be in my room now." She slipped into her room, scowling sourly. "I like red! Like Gryffindor!" she snarled mockingly to herself. "That damn beam is becoming a menace. I can't concentrate around it!" she slammed her wardrobe door to punctuate her statement. Perhaps Lucius would have an idea. This whole thing was intolerable. She slid on the worn yellowed-white dress she'd selected. It was lacey, with slightly poufy short translucent sleeves, but the skirt began at her chest and ran straight down in an empress style and ended at her feet. It hugged her few curves while still giving her the ability to move freely. She pulled out of a small drawer the necklace Draco had given her a few weeks ago, she ran a finger lightly over the dark opal symbolizing Hecate, the Greek goddess of the witches. A proper goddess for a young dark witch to dedicate herself to, but she was too intertwined with Artemis the virginal Greek goddess of the moon for Ginevra's taste (and the fact that Weasleys were magically traditionally tied to the British Isles anyway.). Sex would eventually be power, first sex especially in the right circumstances, and she wasn't going to give that up. She had a patron goddess in mind, but that was for tonight. Today she had to deal with The Party. Joy.

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Molly finished icing the layered birthday cake with pride. Breakfast was cooking away... Percy was keeping an eye on it, such a dear, while she finished with the birthday decorations. Pale pink and blue streamers hung from the rafters of the Burrow, Charlie and Bill's presents had arrived although they themselves couldn't make it. Work they said, but really... It didn't matter. Molly told herself firmly. Today was a HAPPY day. Ginny might even behave with Harry here, she really seemed to have a crush on him, perhaps this whole thing was something she'd grow out of? Molly sent a silent prayer that it was so to Danu the Great Mother, before levitating the lemon flavored cake to the head of the table, next to the small pile of presents.

Soon the stampede of boys clattered down the stairs in various states of dress, joining Percy (who was fully dressed and groomed) at the table. Molly accepted a kiss on the cheek from her husband and absently swatted Ron's hand with her long wooden spoon when he reached for the food. "Not until your sister comes! It's her birthday!"

"Aw Mum!" Ron whined, sticking his injured fingers into his mouth muffling the following complaints.

"GINNY! GET DOWN HERE!" Fred and George chorused loudly, startling the ghoul in the attic. "We're hungry!"

"Now boys, it takes time for a lady to get ready in the morning." She told her sons with a frown, wagging her spoon at them. "Ginny's growing up! Becoming a young woman."

"Yeah we know. She showed us this morning. Right Harry?" Fred retorted with a grin, nudging Harry with his elbow and causing Harry to turn pink.

"What? Did you boys peep on her!" she could feel herself puffing up like an owl, and was surprised when Ginny said distractedly from the bottom of the stairs "I forgot my towel." causing her to deflate. "You really need to be careful dear, you can't be so careless anymore!"

Ginny gave her a look of complete disinterest before dancing her way to the table on bare feet.

"Happy Birthday Ginny!" Harry offered breaking the awkward silence. "Sorry I don't have a present or anything, I didn't know it was coming..." he broke off, obviously realizing that normally a family would be bubbling about a birthday for weeks and yet he hadn't heard a thing about Ginny's. That was odd.

"It's alright Harry." Her daughter squeaked as Harry turned to look at her in confusion, managing to knock over the cream as she did so. Molly sighed and waved her wand muttering "Evanesco" under her breath as she did so, making the cream disappear, along with the bacon it had soaked.

"Well happy birthday Ginevra." Percy said helping himself to some porridge. "Well done Gin!" Fred and George said digging into pancakes and pumpkin juice. "Hmaphi bfftdai Gyddi!" Ron muttered through a mouthful of everything. Arthur nodded in agreement with the others and Errol fainted. Honestly it was the best start to a birthday of Ginny's they'd ever had. Molly thought ruefully.

Breakfast passed peacefully (or at least with normal levels of chaos) and Molly glanced at Arthur who nodded. "Presents Sweetheart!" Arthur said with a forced smile. It was always a gamble buying Ginny anything. She still remembered last year when some of her favorite novels from when she was a girl went up in flames. Or the puffskin that had somehow ended up being used for Bludger practice. Or the lovely pink dresses that all ended up in the pig sty being worn by increasingly confused pigs. Molly shook her head. And with Harry here... Please Danu let her behave! Just once!

Ginevra glanced at Harry out of the corner of one eye, and then a rather forced smile crossed her face. "Thanks. Dad." She said, pulling the gifts to her. Molly breathed a sigh of relief. She had even called Arthur "Dad". She could count the number of times that had happened on one hand. She still held her breath however as she noticed Fred and George's presents were on top. Why oh why hadn't she noticed that?

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Ginevra raised an eyebrow at the gifts before her. 'Pretty packages all in a row...' the thought echoed through her mind and she nodded agreeing with it. She tugged lightly at the bow on the first present, her magic seeped into the package, examining it while she pretended to be struggling with the bow. It was enchanted. Fireworks. Activated by light probably. Rather clever for white wizards. She finally slit the ribbon with the table knife beside her, her bloodstone knife being upstairs in her room safe from spilled food, and opened it tipping it toward Fred and George.

**POP! BANG! WHHHEEEEEEEE!** went the fireworks exploding out of the box and into the air, red, blue, green and yellow pin wheels, flowers and fairies made of the explosives burst into the kitchen upsetting crockery, scaring Errol into fainting again, and setting the streamers and Ron's hair on fire.

"FRED! GEORGE! WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING!" Molly shrieked in her usual response to the twins actions. Ginevra hid a smirk. Personally she thought it was one of the better presents they'd ever given her. 'Such lovely colors. Which will I wear?' she wondered absently ignoring the noise and watching with pleasure as Arthur darted about attempting to use the extinguishing charm to little avail as the pink and blue decorations burned. "Such pretty fire..." she hummed to herself. Percy was the only one who heard her and stared at her in horror. She smiled sweetly and pulled out a blood pop sticking it into her mouth. O this time. Hmmm... slightly sweeter than the other blood types...

Sadly the fires were put out and Fred and George were informed that they were not allowed to use fireworks for the rest of the summer, until they had turned to Arthur and wheedled the concession of being able to use them on the last day to celebrate going back to Hogwarts. The kitchen was filled with a smoky smell and Ron's hair was charred in some places, but Ginevra found herself quite pleased with the effects. She turned to the next gift on the pile - from Ron. It was a wrapped up poster as it turned out. Of the Chudley Cannons. Ginny turned flat eyes on Ron who was still fingering his burnt hair.

"Ron."

He looked up, a look like a muggle facing a dragon crossing his face. "Uh, yeah?"

"I hate the Cannons. They're useless." All quidditch was really, with rare exceptions. The Falmouth Falcons being amusing to watch- often more interested in pummeling their opponents than winning, the Wigtown Wanderers were amusing for their history shown by the symbol on their chest of a silver meat cleaver, and the Holyhead Harpies the all female team who seemed to prefer female company on the whole and enjoyed men purely for the sake of something to hit bludgers at. But no one had died in years, more the pity, in Ginevra's opinion. "I've hated them since I knew what Quidditch was. What possessed you to get me a Cannons poster?"

"Well... emm..." Ron whimpered while Harry looked at him in complete confusion as the redhead tried to hide behind him. "Sorry!" he squeaked.

Harry grinned. "Think you got her what you wanted mate, instead of what she wanted. Tell you what Gin, gimme that one and I'll owl order you whatever team you want."

Her puppy was a sweet boy. She nodded. "If you can get a catalog I'll pick one. Thank you." Hopefully there would be a couple of beaters... "I'll thank you properly later Ron." She added lightly. Ron whimpered while Harry raised his eyebrow at his best friend hiding under the table from his little sister. "You've lost it Ron." He told him patting him on the shoulder.

Ginevra turned to the next gift and found it to be from Charlie. Hmmm... perhaps he had finally given her something she'd actually like now that he wasn't living at home? Or was he even more in denial now? She opened the wrapping paper covered in little dancing pink cakes (which didn't bode well) and found a box containing a very large selection of shrunken blood pops in various shapes- centaur, fairie, animals and the usual round human flavored each in a different segment of the box that had various countries shapes etched on them and within that segment split in two again with the male and female symbol lightly etched in the wood, even a couple that gave off a scent that reminded her of Guy- death and ashes. The attached note read-

_ "Gin,  
I got this off a vampire in Transylvania,  
since you like them so much.  
He said they're the next best thing to the real stuff.  
Creepy bugger. I'm not entirely sure they're not ACTUAL  
blood (don't tell Mum) so if they taste funny  
or make you feel funny don't eat any more.  
Not sure what all the different shapes  
or symbols mean either... the whole thing's a bit dodgy.  
I checked them for any nasty spells and curses and stuff  
though and they're fine.  
Anyway Happy Eleventh and enjoy Hogwarts!  
Charlie"_

Ginevra smiled, pleased. These would last her until Yule if she was smart about it. She had a feeling they were indeed actual blood like the ones Guy had given her, the different shapes and symbols explaining what the source was. Vampire blood bloodpops. She wondered what those tasted like. It was a good gift and a pretty box. She had slipped the note into her dress, closed the box and was unwrapping the next present by the time Molly and Arthur's attention returned from drawing Ron out from under the table.

Percy, ever practical, had given her a self inking quill that changed ink color when ordered to. "I've found mine invaluable during classes. And not having to carry around ink bottles is much easier. If you write over things it's written before the first word disappears so you aren't forced to re-write entire essays because one word mistakes." He told her earnestly through his horn-rimmed glasses.

Ginevra nodded, putting it aside. It was better than last year. He had given her a book titled "A Witches Guide to O.W.L. Preparation." and had proceeded to give her an hour long lecture on the tests that she wouldn't be taking for another six years. Percy was one of the few people she'd met that she couldn't scare with her mere presence. When she played with rusty nails in front of him he would lecture her about getting tetanus from scratching herself. If she tortured a doxy in front of him he decided she was attempting to learn and would give her a book on doxy anatomy. She couldn't decide if he was stupid or in a huge amount of denial. Either way his magic wasn't much to speak of. It was light, but where even Ron was a decent bonfire, Percy was a couple of candles. The only reason he was doing as well as he was she decided was her Uncle Gideon's wand had been similar to hers in that it required filling unlike hers it pulled from the magical atmosphere, giving Percy's spells a boost so long as he was in a magically active area. He was also extremely stubborn. What he didn't have in magical might he did have in will. A pity his ambitions were so narrow and pathetic.

Bill's present left and then a couple from Molly and Arthur. She was also expecting a portkey from the Malfoys that evening after everyone had gone to bed. But that was hours away, she grimaced. Bill had sent her a bronze hair stick in the shape of an Egyptian _was_ scepter- a symbol of power and dominion used by pharaohs. Small chips of lapis lazuli filled in the eye spaces. His note was jotted down on a piece of parchment that had clearly been ripped off of something.

_"Gin,_

Happy Birthday. Sorry I couldn't make it,

the goblins are working me to death! Hope you like the present, picked

it up in a tourist trap, but it was the best thing they had. If you

don't know what it means check the Hogwarts library. Got great books on

Egypt.

-Bill" 

Ginevra hummed her approval and set the stick to the side, to open one from Molly. She could practically feel the ruffles and bows through the box. She opened it and pulled out the dress. "For if you ever need a nice dress Ginny, for a date or, just dinner…" Molly burbled, taking obvious glances at Harry. It called to mind a giant floral cream puff. Poufy skirt, poufy sleeves, bows, and yes the ruffles too. Lace. Flower print. And pink of course. It was as though someone had boiled down the essence of Molly's dream daughter and turned it into a dress. Ginevra's magic boiled under her skin, her hair, still wet from the shower, began to writhe in serpentine coils. Her fingers itched for her knife.

Arthur who had a more developed sense of danger then his wife shoved another gift under her nose and said loudly "This one's from me sweetie!" her magic settled, distracted for now, and opened the box. A make up kit. Well that was... unexpected.

"It's made by muggles!" Arthur said delightedly "You use those little brushes there to apply the powders, and the little bottles have tiny brushes built in that you can paint your nails instead of using charms! And these-"he held up several cylinders "Are for your lips!"

Ginevra slumped. "Thanks. It's great." She wouldn't touch muggle make up without a shield charm up. She'd seen muggle girls wearing the stuff. Absolutely hideous-looking like they'd painted the stuff on. There was no way skin could breathe properly under it. A slow death in exchange for what? Charms were there for a reason. This whole event was suffocating. 'Get out get out get out get out!' A couple voices in the back of her mind chanted over and over. 'There's nothing I'd rather do!' she thought back morosely.

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Ginevra sneered at the "dress" before her. It fit the room perfectly. It fit the family perfectly. It was she who did not fit. Rage filled her. She gave a little scream and threw it on the floor jumping up and down on it. "Ugly! Dirty! Unwanted! Disgusting!" she shrieked, diving over to her bedside table and grabbing her knife she cut ragged holes in it until she dropped the dress satisfied at the pieces of cloth now lying forlorn and ruined under foot. "I forgive you now." She smiled blowing a kiss at it, turning away and forgetting about it entirely.

She walked over to the bed and examined the bloodpops still in their box. "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my..." she crooned, her fingers dancing over the different shaped lollies before snapping up one shaped like a cows head and biting down on it. Still coppery and bitter... but it tasted vaguely like beef. She pouted slightly but shrugged. It was always good to explore new things. Perhaps people from different countries tasted different. She glanced over, insuring the bedroom door was locked and pulled out the diary from her side table along with Percy's quill. She paused a moment, enjoying the tingle of the dark flame licking at her fingers, before putting the quill to the page.

**Hello Tom.**

_Ginevra, hello! I didn't expect to see you today, it being your birthday and all. I expected you'd be busy with your family? _

** Already done. It was tiresome. The boys went off to play quidditch. Did you play quidditch Tom? **

_ No, I was always more the studious type. I spent my time studying and, do you know what networking means Ginevra? _

**Yes. **

_I felt that was far more important to my future than chasing balls around a pitch._

** You'd never have network with my brothers then. Except perhaps Percy. But I can't imagine you'd want Percy unless you needed a good organizer. **

_ Well organizations can be very helpful Ginevra. Do you like being part of any groups? _

** I've never found any worth my time. Perhaps if the rewards were great enough. **

_ In my day Hogwarts had a club called the Slug Club, named after its founder Professor Slughorn. It was a networking club of sorts, he'd invite students he felt showed talent, strength or ability or would hold a certain position in society once they left Hogwarts and introduced them to influential former members that owed him favors, former students, former club members. He was very good at finding students with talents, regardless of blood status, which was rather unusual for a Slytherin head of house. _

** No doubt they had squibs in their family trees somewhere. Magical talent doesn't appear out of nowhere. **

_ Hmm, quite possible. So you have no issue with muggleborns Ginevra? _

Ginevra smirked. The games they were playing, feeling each other out were fun. It was like fencing or dancing, she merrily evaded the exploratory tendrils emanating from the diary that were attempting to ensnare her magic.

**I don't like ignorant weaklings no matter their blood. Muggles are obviously beneath us, we shine likes stars above their little empty dead planets. Muggleborns I suppose can be stars too. But perhaps they're just comets; they light up the sky, but are not part of the dance. They're chaos and change and they wish to be stars but they can't. Because that's not how they're made. **

_Poetic Ginevra. And what makes a sun a sun? Or a wizard a wizard?_

**Suns are eternal, connected to everything, they are powerful, strong and bright, little planets around them feel their warmth and if they get too close... pft! They get burned up! That's why muggles don't like us. We're too much for them. We scare them, we're powerful and that power radiates from us. Even the little muggles can feel it on some level. It makes their hair stand on end, and they want to put out our light. And if there are too many, or if the wizard won't fight back or is disarmed, then poof! The light goes out. Even suns can be extinguished. **

_So what would you suggest wizards do about muggles Ginevra? _

The writing was now coming out faster, Tom was obviously passionate about this subject.

**I don't know yet. **

She giggled almost feeling him blink in surprise.

**I don't know what I want with my life. I have lots of ideas, but at the moment all I want is to get out of the Burrow and stop the boredom. I can decide other things later. I'm only eleven Tom. **

_So you are. I'm sorry, writing to you I forget and think I'm writing to someone my age._

**I'm a clever girl then to fool you. I won't make plans until I have more information. Currently I've very little power to change anything, and I'm still immature. I can afford to take my time and learn the steps before throwing myself into the dance, so that when I do I will be the Princess of the ball. **

_I'm sure you'd make a lovely Princess Ginevra. What do you look like, will you tell me? _

**No. I'm sure I will show you some day. Until then you'll have to wait. Tick tock tick tock. Then you'll be all yours and you won't care about me anymore. I shall be all alone again. If you leave me Tom I will be very cross. I'll punish you. **

_Why would I want to leave such a clever young woman Ginevra? I'm stuck in this diary. I'm not going anywhere. _

** _Don't lie!_ **

Ginevra's teeth bared in a snarl, her lucidity of the morning slipping further away.

**You want to gobble me up, bit by bit until there's nothing left but ink and parchment. **

A long pause, then in a stronger pen that seemed intense and über focused.

_Ginevra, your family, are there... seers in it?_

**Sssh. Not supposed to peek at the beginning! It gives away the end!**

_Interesting. Ginevra, why do you write to me if I want to gobble you up? _

**Curiosity. It killed the cat you know, but satisfaction brought it back. When will you be satisfied Tom? When you're no longer a black hole? When you become a star? Or when you become something else? **

_I'll be the greatest sorcerer of all time! I won't need anyone! _

**You're a _book._ You need me. You were given to me and now you're mine.**

_You're mad._ He didn't seem terribly upset at the idea.

**So are you. What is sanity but accepting the world of the mundane? A painting is given worth only because a majority of people say it has, but it's still a canvas and paint. Perhaps I'm sane and they're mad.**

_That doesn't stop you from standing out. My original plan required subtlety and someone who would not be missed. What do you offer? _

**Power. Purity of blood. Intelligence. Access to everything you could possibly need. Controlled bouts of sanity. **

_You choose to be mad?_

**I choose to cage myself when required. Little bird flying into its cage from freedom to ensure it's never missed... **

_You choose to be sane. Sometimes._

**Isn't that what I said?**

_I had assumed my associate slipped you the diary on the sly. He didn't did he? He gave it to you._

** My patron. The blood traitors only daughter playing pet for the Malfoys... it was a worthy trade. I can't wait for the real fireworks... ten little soldiers all family mine, BANG! a curse shoots out and then there were nine!**

_And no one saw fit to inform me of the change of plans._

**Like frightened children they are before you. Even as you are. He's clever though. Raids and raids and raids through all the dark gardens searching for the naughty fruit. He has to protect your seed, so he gave you to me, no one will raid the Weasley garden. Poor and light and pathetic nothing worth the trip. **

_The ministry is conducting raids on suspected dark families? _

**Mmm... Arthur told us. Pst psst psst. Little gnats in my ears.**

_And Arthur is... your inner voice? Your seer guide?_

**My father.** She replied bluntly.

_Oh._ If handwriting could seem sheepish this was. _So he works at the ministry? _

**Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Hssss. Cleaning up after rodents and thankless sheep. Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch...it makes such a fuss I want to rip its throat out. **

_Not to be rude or anything Ginevra dear, but may I request that you cage yourself for a bit please. It's extremely hard to communicate with you when you're insane. _

**Hmmm... fine. Sanity is awful though. It's grey and boring and dead.**

_Yes well on that I agree with you. Now tell me more about the wizarding world. Tell me about recent history, about your patron, about Hogwarts, do you know of a man called Albus Dumbledore, and about dark lords... _

The written conversation lasted so long her hand cramped. Sanity was fluid and shifting for her, so that she waxed poetic several times on various subjects, Tom was learning to bring her back to the topic however without getting a metaphysical headache. Being a seer was a matter of opinion. By some definitions she was not. She saw things in reflections and clouds and such, but it was generally what her magic told her about the world being put into pictures, not symbols or portents. It was her magic telling her things she already knew. She couldn't see a person was going to have a broom accident a week from now, but she could tell that their magic was being used to fight something and they were sick and should stay in bed and definitely off brooms for a while. If she cared about others anyway. As it was she mostly used her gift such as it was to see the truth of things and then to enjoy watching the world unravel. Let the world burn, she would happily dance in the flames.

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When she finally looked up from the diary the sun was setting. Her stomach informed her that she had missed lunch and no one had come to get her. Stupid family. She jotted down a goodbye to Tom, lightly dodging another snare of his magic, he didn't give up easily on a plan he'd had worked out for 50 years she supposed absently. She made her way downstairs to see everyone at the table eating supper.

"Oh, Ginny dear! I'm sorry I thought you were asleep!" Molly said glancing up at her from her plate. "I knocked on your door and you didn't answer."

"You know Ginny-"

"she sleeps like-"

"-the dead!" Fred and George said wide grins on their faces.

"I'm afraid we're out of most everything..." Molly added looking down the very pillaged looking table. "Would you like me to fix you something dear?"

Ginevra pointedly ignored her brothers and entered the kitchen, going through the pantry in search of something to eat. Eventually settling on a roll, some cheese and meat from the cooling cupboard, and a glass of milk, she returned to the table, ducking the string of magic from Harry's head like a limbo dancer again ignoring the stares she got for it, and sat next to Percy.

"You really shouldn't sleep during the day Ginevra." Percy lectured her as she ate "it'll throw off your circadian rhythm."

"I wasn't asleep. I was reading." She replied cutting him off before he got up steam.

"Oh. Well, good. Your text books?" he asked

She nodded an uncaring affirmative, her mouth full.

"I'm glad to see you're following in my footsteps rather than Fred or Georges, or Ron's judging by his exam grades." Percy pontificated over her head, ignoring his brothers' protests and Ron's complaints that he was a bit busy helping Harry save the Philosophers stone thank you very much! While Harry looked down at his lap in embarrassment. Ginevra just sighed and looked longingly at the sharp bread knife on the cutting board in front of her. She hadn't lied to Harry earlier, red was her favorite color, but it certainly wasn't because of Gryffindor.

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It was a quarter till midnight when Nero soared into her room on silent wings, a small package in his talons which he dropped on her bed, landing on a bedpost with a soft hoot. Ginevra twirled, her dress swirling around her humming her happiness, before opening the small package. A note in Lucius's writing and a small pin with the Malfoy crest on it fell out.

_"Ginevra, when you're ready, have Nero on your person and activate the portkey with the phrase "Omnia non satis" We'll see you shortly. Lucius A. Malfoy." _

"The Malfoy family motto..." she murmured and checked her bag for her wand, the diary just in case, her blood knife and a couple of her new blood pops, then held out her arm to Nero. The owl didn't look pleased at his offered perch, but flew over anyway. She pulled his back against her chest and muttered "Omnia non satis." and felt the unmistakable yank of a portkey draw her through a temporary wrinkle in space like a needle through bunched fabric, only leaving no trace of having been there.

She landed with a soft whumph and Nero gave an annoyed hoot as she clutched him closer in surprise, ruffling his feathers.

"Welcome Miss Weasley." A gloved hand was held out to her and she was being helped up by Draco from the floor.

"Thank you." She rose and glanced around her, released Nero who gave an indignant hoot and flew down a corridor further into the manor. The manor was predominantly white, white marble floors, delicate white wallpaper interspersed with tapestries and portraits of beautiful looking blonde haired witches and wizards in gold frames, above which towered elaborately carved ceilings of flowers and forests, all entwined with the Malfoy coat of arms, done in what appeared to be white yew. The overall feeling was as though you were walking through a temple- the engaged columns added to the effect.

"Mother and Father are greeting their guests and preparing for the ritual, I hope you don't mind them sending me to fetch you?" Draco asked courteously, offering his arm. She took it and he lead her down the hall through several passages to a small chamber.

"Please prepare yourself for the ceremony. Dobby!" a soft pop and a rather bulgy eyed house elf with heavily bandaged fingers appeared. "Help Miss Weasley prepare." Ginevra thanked him and he left.

"You is stepping over here please miss..." Dobby said gesturing over to a large tub full of sweet smelling water. "Is salt cleansing bath miss." He explained as she pinned her hair up with the supplied hair pins. "Is having sea salt, saleratus, frankinsenses, lavender, manuka, rosemary flowers, thyme linalool, benzoin, clary sage, sandlewoods and powdered dragons blood miss." Ginevra nodded, recognizing the cleansing herbs and minerals before shedding her dress and stepping into the steaming bath with a sigh. Dobby darted about lighting incense sticks in corners of the room filling the air further with the smell of sage. "Master is ordering Dobby that Miss Weezy is being purified then is being dressed. Dobby is going to get your robes now." And disappeared with a soft pop, only to reappear seconds later with another pop a shining silver bundle in his hands which he set on the chair next to the tub.

Ginevra could feel the strains and taints of day to day living being cleared from her body and magic. The constant interactions she had with white wizards left a discomfort she hadn't even known was there until it was lifted. She scrubbed herself under the water's surface, dipping to wash her face and neck, the incense doing the same job as the water in her hair. "Out damn spot!" she giggled to herself quietly as little flecks of grey in her aura flake off like pieces of dirt, following the stain that left her fingers from her bloodpops as it disappeared into the bath.

Fully cleansed she rose from the bath and stood arms out stretched. Dobby hurriedly dried her with a large fluffy towel, before offering her the robe and under garments that accompanied it. Underwear, shift, and then the robes. She was certain it was muslin, it seemed to emphasize how tiny she was. She belted it with the provided white rope like tie. Dobby snapped his fingers sending the pins holding her hair up flying and causing her hair to fall down in serpentine locks and coils which he fashioned up into a long brain and then into a chignon up on top of her head fastened with a wooden hair slide of celtic design. Aside from this she was bare of ornamentation- her bag was to be returned to her should she pass the tribunal and be allowed to complete the ritual.

"This way please miss." Dobby said leading her through the marble halls she following on bare silent feet. He escorted her to a large pair of double doors through which the sounds of laughter, conversation and the clinking of drinks could be heard. "You is to go in alone Miss Weezey." She nodded and stepped forward as the doors opened.

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CLIFFHANGER!

**AN-** you know I can't resist! XD So here's chapter 6. I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with it, so tell me what you think. This one ended up LONG. I wasn't happy just leaving it with her birthday being presents. Oh and Omnia non Satis means Everything is not Enough. Stolen from my darling internet wife Wynja! Go check out her Teen Titans fanfiction. :iconwynjas:

Now! I've been accused of making Ginny a jerkass Sue because she's evil for the sake of being evil, has no real goals, has no weaknesses and is making the main character her pet. Well, I have yet to address all these in the story, so I want to address them here before I lose any readers. Ginevra is 11. Yes she's a very odd 11 year old, but she doesn't have much life experience. Right now she doesn't have any real goals aside from getting away from the Burrow and finding something to stop being bored. She's a sociopath. She's not evil for the sake of evil – she's evil cause it amuses her, it's her nature and it's not boring.

Ginevra has a LOT of weaknesses, the most obvious being that she's batshit insane. Yes she has some level of control over it, but not as much control as she thinks she has. She also (although she has yet to discover it) is going to have a very hard time with light spells – such as cheering charms. She will never be able to cast a patronus, it's against her nature. I'm not sure what she'd do if she met up with a dementor. She's also trapped in the fact that her very nature makes it hard for her to fit in very well, she's going to have to learn to adapt at Hogwarts- which is going to be very difficult for her. She's also not as strong as she thinks. She is strong certainly. But not compared to Dumbledore or Voldemort. I don't find God-mode characters very interesting. Is she stronger than Tom? Well yes, he's a BOOK. His power depends entirely on the power of the person he's sucking the power out of.

My friend also protested about the fact that no one did anything about Ginevra when she's obviously a future serial killer. Well this is the wizarding world. They're extremely insular family wise. Any problems in the family are handled in the family. Look at the Longbottoms. Neville's uncle Algie tossed him out a window to scare the magic out of him rather than have a squib for a grandson. If he died... oh well. At least there's no squib in the family. And they're a LIGHT family! We know the Blacks blasted them off the family tree at the very least. There's also no concept of therapy in the wizarding world. When Ginny got her mind possessed by the darkest dark lord in history what do they do? Oh good job fighting him Ginny, here have some hot chocolate.

Harry has visions of his parents deaths thanks to dementors, oh well. Let's give him some chocolate, that'll fix that mental scaring. Oh and occlumancy- let's rape his mind and call it a lesson! Not to mention Dumbledore's idea of a suitable household for Harry to grow up in. Really there are a TON of characters who could use therapy - Harry, Snape, Voldemort, Ginny, Hermione, Percy, Sirius (omg), Remus, Dumbledore, Draco, Lucius, really half the cast at least. So would the Weasleys have any idea what to look for? No. She tortures doxies - the wizarding equivalent of pests which would end up killed anyway. She creeps them the fuck out, but there's no real precedence to follow here. If there's no outside cause- like torture through the cruciatus curse, then it's just something the family just has to deal with or be shamed. You think Bellatrix was a normal kid? Of course not! Mental illness is just something not talked about except in whispers. There aren't cures. Sure you can shove a calming potion down her throat, but the body can build up immunity.

She's getting treated nicely by Lucius because of who she is: a pureblood witch and a Weasley. He sees her as an opportunity to 1. Get back at Arthur 2. Get an ally for the Malfoy family and 3. claim something he finds curious and worthwhile for himself. If you notice the outstanding trait of the Malfoy family is greed and over reaching until they get in a bind and then they choose self preservation over all else. But they love being on top. They love having the best things, having the most power, being the richest, the most beautiful, the most influential. And when Ginevra came along and was such a rare oddity, Lucius's inclination was to bind her to the family so that no one else can have her. Narcissa follows her husband's lead, as does Draco. Whether the other dark families will accept her as anything more than a pet of Lucius's is another question all together.

My friend said she comes off as way too powerful - I point out in turn that the only people we've seen her interact with are 1. the Weasleys who are either children, Molly who has shown no real magical skill - the strongest spell she used in the whole series was the Avada Kedavra and that was under extreme duress and even Wormtail can do that one, and no one argues that he's not a pathetic excuse for a wizard, and Arthur who's simply henpecked half to death. 2. Dark wizards who are perfectly comfortable with their own power and while they think she's rather remarkable it's more for where she came from then because she's this super sayian of witches. Lucius who is currently keeping his magic close to himself and really has no reason to fear an untrained witch dark or not. 3. The people she scares the crap out of are her family, unicorns who are extreme light creatures, and a couple goblins. The goblins sense her dark and know that should she make a scene because of how biased the Ministry laws are they'd be the ones getting in deep shit, so it's better just to stay out of her way. It's not that they fear her so much, they could probably take her - it just the consequences of doing so aren't worth it. She IS powerful don't get me wrong - but she's kinda like Bellatrix in that she's not the most powerful, she has limits, and as she said in her little talk with Tom, put her up against enough opponents and someone'll get a lucky shot in. That's life.

Anyway Read and Review! Tell me what you think!


	7. of bets and Gods

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**chapter 7**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy**

**AN - I don't own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does. **

**This chapter is mostly filler, the Hogwarts stuff will start next chapter (which will come much faster now that school is done for the semester)**

Lucius was quite enjoying himself. Occasions to gather the Dark Courts together had become rarer since the Dark Lord fell, and there was a certain perverse humor in having one so close to the summer solstice traditionally a time for the Light to be in power according to the cycles of the earth.

Lucius nodded politely as his Great-Aunt-in-law Cassiopeia Black updated Narcissa as to the events occurring in the Black family, Narcissa's second-cousin once removed Arcturus and his wife Melina (_nee_ McMillian) and their daughter Lucretia and her husband Ignatius Prewett lingered near the buffet. Callidora and her husband Harfang Longbottom were sniping at each other under a painting of Abraxas Malfoy. Irma Crabbe was fussing over her grandson Vincent who, as usual had nothing resembling a clue what was going on. His own blood family was limited to his second cousin Spungen who was staring out the window of the manor in a way that told Lucius he was coming down from a potions induced high, an unfortunate weakness that Lucius himself had taken advantage of multiple times in the past.

Draco was no doubt collecting the guest of honor. He smirked. Two years since he had found the little Weasley in Borgin and Burkes and he still questioned the reality of it at times. Narcissa was delighted in the chance to have a little girl to spoil, and Lucius refrained from disappointing her with the news that their vassal was more akin to her sister Bellatrix then some sweet little Hufflepuff to dote on. A side door opened and he nodded as Draco entered, catching his eye and smirking lightly. Young Ginevra would be making her debut soon.

He excused himself from Narcissa and Cassiopeia and began rounds through the ballroom, greeting old business partners, political allies, school mates, and important members of the Dark Court. Guy winked at him from behind a wine glass of specially provided muggle, and continued entrancing his date of the evening. Lucius made his way to the stage, checking that all pieces for the ritual were in place salt circle, sand circle, pentagram, altar, Ginevras own bloodstone knife collected from her bag, goblet, elemental symbols, priceless human-sized statues of Gods and Goddesses from the Dark Realms of every kind held places of honor in special nooks in the walls, offering form to any choosing to join the revelry.

Everything being in order his eyes found their way to a dark corner that he was quite sure didn't normally exist in the bright room. His mouth quirked as he made his way toward Severus Snape s hiding place, elegantly slouching against the wall beside the lurking man.

"Enjoying yourself Severus?"

Severus scowled at him, the shadows doing nothing for his sallow complexion, his dark eyes looking as usual, like the darkest tomb or cave. "I would enjoy myself more were I to know why exactly I was summoned to this... party." He sneered.

Lucius could not contain the playful smirk that broke out over his face. There was little in life as amusing as forcing Severus Snape to play nice with the masses. "Ah, did I neglect that little detail in my invitation?"

Severus growled. "As you came and delivered mine personally it would be highly remiss of you to have neglected to do so. However..." he trailed off meaningfully.

Lucius chuckled. Severus would never have come had he simply sent Nero with a letter, indeed the dour potions master probably wouldn't have noticed the letter at all, totally absorbed in his potion brewing for days at a time. And leaving things unexplained were sure to pique the mans interest. "I imagine that you can guess for yourself by the decor."

Severus was cautious. "It appears you have set up for the ritual of binding to a deity. Draco however has already made his contract, and I can all others of the proper age are already present. Therefore, as usual you are... up to something." he turned curious eyes to his host.

"The Malfoy family has taken on a vassal." Lucius watched with pleasure as shock briefly flashed across his friends face before it vanished.

"Indeed? Most unexpected. And whom has found themselves worthy of your attention?"

"Ginevra Weasley." He purred, delighted with the look of utter dumbfounded bewilderment.

"A Weasley?"

"Isn't it just delicious? I am expecting Hecate to claim her, or perhaps Kali. She's so full of potential and they're so malleable at this age..."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "And that she's the youngest and only daughter of the man who has been a thorn in your side for years is, of course, purely incidental."

"There's a small amount of satisfaction to be found there, yes." He murmured back, unabashed. "However I do not exaggerate. Ginevra has more potential in one hand then that daft Parkinson girl has in her whole body."

"That's hardly saying much." Severus pointed out coolly. "The girl is as shallow as James Potter at his worst, utterly focused on trying to snare Draco into an engagement. The house elves have caught eight love potions sneaked into his food and drink already and she s only eleven. Petrus must be so proud."

Lucius just smirked. "Care to bet on it then? A gentlewizards wager?"

Severus tensed minutely. "On the girls placement?"

Lucius smiled like a shark. "I'll even give you two chances. Patron and house. Should you get one correct shall we say a book of your choice from my personal library?" This was not an offer to be sneezed at, the Malfoys had gained the majority of the Dark Lords library when he fell, add to that the tomes and volumes passed down from one generation of Malfoy to the next still Severus was cautious.

"Her siblings have displayed no strength or persuasion toward the dark outside of pranks in the corridors. Empty headed and hallow stomached. Fine. I've no doubt you found something however, I believe your excitement has gotten the better of you. Artemis, or perhaps Eris if you're lucky. And Gryffindor."

Lucius shook his hand and then raised his head as the central doors opened, revealing the tiny girl standing there, gazing into the crowed room, looking like a virgin sacrifice. Show time. He murmured and made his way through the crowd to his dark witchling.

)O( )O( )O( )O( )O( )O( )O( )O(

Severus Snape, from his corner watched as the small girl entered the room, willingly throwing herself into the greedy grasp of the Dark Court. He sneered. He couldn't sense her power over those of the multitude in the room, but she looked like a waif about to blow away in a single puff of wind. What in Merlins name had made the foolish girl think she could survive? It was too late now, any hope of interference long since past.

Ignatius Prewett, Molly Weasleys second or third cousin was looking a bit confused at the presence of the youngest Weasley, whispering to his wife quietly who looked a bit peeved at the distraction. Severus took in the expressions and reactions of the other guests with care before turning to watch Lucius and Narcissa leading the girl up to the stage.

Lucius turned them around and placed a hand on a petite shoulder, Narcissa standing next to him a queenly smile on her face. "Family, friends, members of the Dark Courts from all walks of life-" for Lucius this merely meant all walks of importance, wealth and connection "thank you for joining Narcissa and I in the official induction of a new member to our, and the gods service. I would like to introduce Miss Ginevra Weasley."

Those who had not recognized, or connected the red hair and freckles to her obvious identity now exchanged glances and whispers. Weasley however remained entirely blank, no reaction revealed at all, no nervousness, fear, excitement or intimidation. Perhaps she was an idiot Severus wondered, and Lucius had mistook silence brought on by mental retardation as politeness and pureblood manners.

Narcissa waved a regal hand and the court quieted. "The hour is right. The hour of darkness is nigh. Let us begin." she said softly in a voice that none the less carried through the room.

Lucius and Narcissa retreated from the stage, leaving the girl to stand alone. Usually children had been trained and drilled on what to do from birth for this most important of occasions that declared the childs destiny and allegiances for the rest of their lives, the action taken in the circle being what was sacrificed to catch the attention of the gods. He doubted that she had been so informed however.

She turned and drifted into the circle, stepping over the salt and then the sand, making her way to the center and the altar. She bowed her head slightly, glancing over the tools before her, and seemed to mentally examine each. Then she reached out, picking up the atheme and delicately cut herself on the blade. Blood dripped down her small white fingers, as she placed her hand palm down on the pentagram liquid filling each gash and line until the full design stood out from the stone carving. She murmured something unintelligible from where he stood, and then all light in the room blanked and then returned in shadowy blue flame turning the ballroom into a dark cavern. There was a blast of hot air, and he clenched his eyes closed against its scorching bite. The previously still statues flickered, creaked and groaned as the Gods made themselves present at convergence of Darkness.

One couldn t help cowering as well as basking while in the presence of a god, let alone so many. The humans in the hall all fell to their knees, the various gods stepping around them and occasionally on their robes with little care, although one or two seemed to show some affection for a particular witch or wizard. The pressure of the air was almost suffocating, the gods made their way to the circle to examine the girl being offered up.

A blue skinned, four armed goddess wearing a long chain made from severed heads made her way forward, bangles jingling on ankles above bare feet. Her tongue slipped out and tasted the magic filled air around the small redhead who had fallen to hands and knees. The goddess shook her head after a moment and stepped back to stand in her own nook, somehow becoming less present while still remaining watchful.

A vaguely Mediterranean looking goddess stepped forward, her breastplate depicting a savage looking gorgon head. She placed her hand in the air over the girl and her eyes narrowed and she removed it, stepping back, flicking it as though to remove something distasteful. She stepped back to her nook and simply left, leaving the empty statue in her wake.

A goddess he recognized as Anat, a war deity from the middle east voiced a question to the blue skinned goddess who replied, both in languages the potions master had never heard before and that made his head pound. Anat seemed to decide to check for herself, dragging a blood stained hand through the aura in the circle. She gave a sound of agreement and many of the gods turned and returned to their nooks, some staying in a semi-present state, others losing all interest and leaving entirely.

Those who were left were all Celtic gods, mostly female with an occasional male amongst them. A Goddess with belly big with child and the same ethereal beauty that all the gods seemed to wear effortlessly stepped forward and looked at the girl and spoke, her voice thunder and honey. "Childe your Mother is one of my daughters, as have been many of the women in your sires line. This is the last chance you are granted to return to my service. I offer healthy children, relief from pain in labor, the safety of a Mothers love and the promise of food always on the table."

Ginevra looked up at the woman whose light beauty made tears come to the eyes of all who saw her and gnashed her teeth at her fearlessly. Danu sighed and disappeared, having no statue in the Dark Court.

An old goddess, bent with age leaned on a gnarled stick cackled at the small witch in the center of the circle, grinning so widely that Severus could see she had only a handful of teeth left. Bushy eyebrows covered a black wicked dancing eye, the other covered by an eye patch. Rats scurried about her feet. She spoke and hyenas laughs echoed, dice rattled and mens fortunes rose and fell in it. "You're not one of mine dearie, I may call on you someday, if I've a mind though." She hobbled over to her nook under which a plaque read The Graveyard Hag the rats thankfully leaving with her.

Two more Goddesses examined the girl and found her wanting in one aspect or another. Then a God who was bigger than the earth, voracious and hungry, his being bursting from the seems of his human-esque form. He too refused her.

Then three goddesses stepped forward and the air sang with the sounds of hounds baying, swords clashing and the screams of the dying. The first had long blonde hair that fell to her waist in long ringlets, the skulls of men hung from her ears, and wizards who had not raised a wand in violence in ten years felt bloodlust sing in their veins screaming for the pain, death and destruction of her enemies and allies all for her amusement. She was the Morrigan.

Her sister was clothed in a funeral shroud covering a swollen belly, red hair and rounded eyes the color a battlefield. Blood leaked from between her legs, and from scratches and bruises on her calves. For her were those men who mistreated their wives, and she gave birth to battle between them, bones snapping and shattering were her gift to those soldiers unfortunate enough to be hers. Horses screamed in her wake. She was Macha.

The third woman was nude, but her exact coloring was impossible to tell, she wore the mud and filth of the battlefield, dirt caked her black hair matting it. The blood of the dead stained her mouth and fingers which were also talons. Black feathers made up parts of her flesh and tangled in her hair, her teeth were sharp and her tongue was black. Banshees were her attendants, and vultures followed her to share in her feasting. She was Badb.

The stink of death and dying, rot, sweat, blood, smoke, gunpowder and wet fur filled the room with an unbearable stench, leaving the witches and wizards choking into their robe collars and sleeves. The wood floor blackened and curled beneath their feet.

Then Macha spoke and her voice was terrible and great. "We've not had a witch lately. Who was our last?"

"My little Belladona!" said the Morrigan, the great shadow hounds of war snarled and fought in her wake.

"You ve had the last two!" croaked Badb her black eyes shining with madness. "It's my turn for a human hatchling!"

Macha gave a wave of her hand in dismissal. "No use to me, her souls already broken."

The Morrigan bared her teeth in a smile. "My Bella is still waiting, faithful to my cause. I shall wait."

Badb shrieked her pleasure and turned to the tiny mortal in the circle of salt and sand. "Well child? Will you make a contract with War?"

Ginevra raised her eyes and now Severus could see that they sparkled with equal madness and bloodlust enough to make him catch his breath. She raised her hands to the Battle-Crow in joyful surrender and acceptance and the Goddess became a giant bird, became a true crow and then there were a multitude and they surrounded the girl until Severus could no longer see her for the black of feathers, beaks and eyes and then it was over and the room was once again bright and populated only by mortals.

**AN- I know I know, it's been FOREVER. I give the excuse of an honors class along with 3 other college classes, club meetings, family stuff and migraines. **

**This chapter took a lot of research on my part, I wanted the perfect patron for Ginevra. On the other hand, it's sort of filler, because the Gods don't interact with their mortals very often, and I don't really have the intention of making Badb and Ginevra interact much more then is normal in this world. On the other hand, the descriptions made me happy, and now that this is done I can begin the Hogwarts parts, and probably return to Ginevra's POV. **

**The Gods were btw, in order - Kali, Athena, Anat, Danu, the Graveyard Hag whom I stole from Tamora Pierce, filler Goddess 1 and 2, Jormungand - the giant sea serpent and son of Loki from Norse mythology, and of course the Morrigan, Macha and Badb. **

**They're all Goddesses of death, war, etc, with the exception of Danu who was doing her duty by Molly to at least attempt to sway Ginevra.**

**Did I describe the Gods well? Were you decently horrified/entranced? ;)**

**Please review!**


	8. of train rides and sortings

**Ginevra in Darkness**

** Chapter 7 **

**By Virginia Riddle-Malfoy **

**Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter or any other recognizable character. Do not sue me. You might make 20 bucks.**

A loud banging on her door woke Ginevra a few weeks following her bonding. The party had continued in full swing, with the guests gossiping and debating the significance of Badb's choice, what it could mean for them and the uses it could have. Fine wine and champagne had been passed about on trays by house elves borrowed for the occasion and Ginevra had enjoyed several cups of wine as well as stealing sips from Guy who indulged her and called her his 'petite chat'. This had resulted in a mild hangover that left her in a foul mood, unhelped by Mollys waking her before noon that day and had left the Burrows residents to walk on egg shells for the rest of the day, Ron telling Harry that she was obviously having girl problems.

He had tripped on a loose floorboard directly afterward, with a bloody nose the result, and while Ginevra hadn't actually done anything to cause it, she had no problem taking credit for it, giving her brother a wicked toothy grin and scaring him into retreating to the apple orchard for the rest of the day.

"Ginny! Wake up dear! Are you packed yet?" Molly demanded through the door.

She gave a snarled response of some sort and fell out of bed onto the floor with a grunt. Striding over to her dresser she glanced apathetically at its contents, finally selecting a simple white summer dress, and as usual jumped the line to the shower. Harry had been rather confused by this tradition at the Burrow of Ginevra always getting first access to the shower, but when asked Fred simply said "Ginny gets testy in the morning before her shower. Best not to get in her way before hand."

When she got out it was to chaos, various redheaded males running up and down the stairs, yelling to one another about missing socks, quills and text books. Percy's prefect badge had managed to find its way into the flour sack in the pantry, and the ghoul in the attic was happily adding to the noise.

"Is your trunk ready yet Ginny?" Arthur asked her as he passed her in the hall, mouth half full of toast.

She shook her head. She had received a package of supplies from the Malfoys last night, shrunken down and had yet to put them away. She entered her room without speaking a word and shut the door firmly. Her trunk (which had been Molly's as a girl and the interior had been covered in doodles with such asinine things as "Molly loves Arthur" and "MP & AW" inside a heart.) was newly scourgified and had her robes, books, cauldron (now undented), vials and other supplies inside, along with her supply of blood pops and a statue of Badb from the Malfoys, hand carved and made of black obsidian veined with white marble to show feature and feather lines. It would serve as her altar piece once she reached Hogwarts.

The supplies from the Malfoys were casually tossed on top of the trunk to be opened later and turning to the mirror she picked up a hair brush and began the arduous task of taming her curls into something semi-manageable. Normally she wouldn't care, but she was entering Hogwarts as (to those in the know) a witch with the patronage of a great house, and to be unkempt would reflect badly on them, which would not aid her in any way.

"I sometimes wonder if all my hair will fall out and I shall go bald." She told her reflection who did not respond today. This worried Ginevra not at all, the mirror itself didn't talk anymore and her reflection didn't always feel talkative, depending on her own mental state at the time. Perhaps she was feeling shy. Her hair now in long serpentine curls she felt appropriate for her entrance to the snake house that would occur this evening, she checked for the necklace of Draco's, her bloodstone knife, potions book, and wand were all in her immediate reach in a leather bag she intended to use for carrying books and supplies to classes and, finding all present, she exited her room into the mayhem beyond.

"Watch it!" George yelped jumping over her from the stairs above her to the landing behind her with a thud, startled by her sudden appearance.

"Fred! Where'd you put the filibuster fireworks?" Fred called from their room down the hall.

"I dunno George!" George replied before an explosion of color and fireworks came from the bathroom.

"Oh that's right!" they chorused "We left them under an invisibility charm in the tub! Thanks Perce!" Percy's yell of rage was muffled by the door and the sounds of **WIZZZZ! POP!** And **BANG!** from the fireworks.

"FRED! GEORGE! WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU RE DOING!" Molly yelled from the direction of the kitchen. Ginevra ignored the yells and skipped lightly down the stairs, making sure to kick Scabbers down several flights as she went. 'Nothing like a little sadism to start off your morning right.' The rat was left dazed and bruised at the bottom of the stairway.

Molly was attempting to simultaneously make breakfast, deliver various piles of newly washed clothes to the correct room, and keep track of who had eaten and who was just pretending to be the other twin to get seconds or thirds on the sly. She was failing at the latter. Fred and George had already eaten 2 breakfasts. each blaming the other, and then snuck another plate each and claimed Ron ate it all. Ron was to be very put out when Molly accused him of having a bottomless stomach and that he could just wait till Hogwarts for more, when truthfully he had yet to get anything to eat.

Ginevra sang softly to herself as she made her way into Arthurs study, checking to insure there was nothing there that could prove advantageous to know about. Several raids schedules were quickly copied, as were a couple of drafts for the upcoming Muggle Protection Act Arthur was crusading. She would pass these onto Draco on the train if she saw him. She tucked her copies into her satchel and exited the room quite unnoticed.

Harry and Ron were helping Arthur load the trunks into the blue muggle cars boot, explaining about expansion charms and such. Boring. But soon soon there would be interesting things to see and do and destroy! Perhaps she might even find a friend, someone who shared her love of pain as an artform...

The ride to the station was stressful and caused them to be late. The goodbyes were sentimental and boring. Molly tried to hug her but she sidestepped her bulk and fiddled with the concealed pommel of her bloodstone knife. Molly backed off after that, wondering where Harry and Ron were. Ginevra really didn't care. Other people would look after her pet, though for all the wrong reasons.

She boarded the train and found a compartment, Fred and George threw her trunk up on the racks above her seat and vanished to go find their own year mates. Eventually the door slid open and Luna Lovegood peered inside, her eyes abnormally wide as usual.

"Hello Ginevra Weasley." She said in her odd way, opening the door a little wider. "Would you mind if I sat here? There aren't many wrackspurts in here, and the other compartments are infested with them."

Luna was a decent choice for a riding companion, and she wouldn't have to scare away older students wanting the compartment if she were here. Luna tended to make people uncomfortable. Ginevra just scared them. Together she doubted anyone would last more than a minute.

"Alright."

"Are you expecting to make many friends Ginevra?" Luna asked lightly

"I hear enough voices most of the time to not need anyone else babbling at me. They tend to stare when I answer people they can t hear." Ginevra replied after a minute of thought.

"Funny, I get the same reaction when I tell people about nargles or blibbering humdingers. For people who believe in magic they don't really believe in magic do they?" Luna said airily.

Ginevra conceded this point and pulled a bloodpop from her bag, along with her potions book from Narcissa and began reading. Luna was not at all disturbed by being ignored and simply opened a copy of the Quibbler from her own bag, casually turning it upside down a little while later and continuing her reading.

This continued for about half an hour when the door opened and a small mousy looking boy peered in, an enormous muggle camera around his neck that looked like a dead albatross on a very cheerful sailor. "Hullo! I'm Colin Creevey! Are you first years? I'm so excited about Hogwarts, it's amazing isn't it? I was so surprised when I got my letter, my dad's a milk man you know, and we'd never heard of magic or anything except the stuff you see on the telly. Do you have a telly? Are there wizard tellys? Are you from wizard families? Why are you reading upside down? What sort of sweet is that?" He paused to take a breath and Ginevra sneered.

Luna smiled. "Hullo Colin Creevey, yes, yes, no, no, yes, because more people should, it's a blood pop." She said calmly.

"A blood pop? It doesn't taste like real blood does it?" Colin whatever it was, Creepy? asked looking intimidated at the stick poking out of Ginevra's red mouth.

"Oh no." She smiled viciously showing red stained teeth. "Real blood tastes a lot better, this is just kitten blood flavored."

Creepy's eyes widened comically and then hit himself on the door frame running away.

"Wot's with 'im?" Fred asked as he and George came from the other direction, watching curiously as the boy ran like the hounds of hell were after him.

"He didn't care for Ginevra's taste in lollies. Hello Fredrick. Hello George." Luna replied, totally unphased by anything.

"'Lo Loony." George said with a grin, "Find any snarfblats yet?"

"No. But Daddy's still hopeful." Luna replied

"Well we'll keep our eyes open too." Fred said with a laugh. "Hey Gin, have you seen Harry and Ron? We've been looking for them but can't seem to find them. Hermione's sitting with Neville Longbottom and hasn't seen them either."

"Mmm... Maybe they jumped in front of the train and committed lovers suicide." Ginevra said dreamily. All that blood and meat gooshing under the wheels of the train...

The twins turned green at the idea of Ron being romantically involved with anyone and eyed her warily. "Well, hopefully they would have tried coming to us for help first..."

"I expect the driver would've mentioned something if they had. Not to mention the bumps they would cause in the track." Luna offered lightly, staring intently at Fred and George.

"Right... anyway we're off. Maybe they're on the other end of the train."

They left after that.

"Is it a Gryffindor trait to jump in front of trains?" Luna asked curiously.

"It certainly isn't a Slytherin one."

"Maybe you can tell me once you get sorted there." Luna wondered.

Ginevra frowned. "I'm not going to Gryffindor. I'm going to Slytherin."

Luna blinked calmly. "I don't think so. I've seen you with Gryffindor robes on most of the time."

Ginevra scowled. Luna's ability to see things, whether real or imaginary had a habit of being accurate, in one way or another. She had a feeling it had something to do with Luna's bond with her Goddess Selene, which was stronger than normal bonds. "Well I can't imagine how that could occur." She muttered mutinously. Luna merely smiled serenely.

When the call came down the train for them to change into their robes Ginevra found that the Malfoys had given her some new robes in her sizes which she slid on easily over her oxford shirt, sweater, and black skirt.

'So muggle... Must have been Dumbledore's doing.' One of the voices in her head suggested.

'Not pink.' Another replied cheerfully.

'TEAR THEM ALL TO PIECES AND DANCE IN THEIR REMAINS!' shouted another, not talking about the clothes but her schoolmates.

'Eat them.' A more practical one suggested 'We're hungry.'

'Feast soon?' asked a rather timid one quietly.

'What if they don't like us?' asked the one Ginevra had designated as Ginny.

'Then we kill them until they like us!'

'Killing people doesn't make them like you, it just makes them dead.'

'It would make me feel better!'

Ginevra listened to the rather loud debate occurring in her head as she stepped out of the train onto the station, continuing as it became rather rowdier than usual in the boats, totally ignoring the presence of Luna, a girl who introduced herself loftily as "Astoria Greengrass, of the Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass" and a sullen looking boy who muttered "Wilkes." in the boat up to the castle.

The students tripped their way up the stairs to a small room off the Great Hall, and a professor who introduced herself as Minerva McGonagall told them to smarten themselves up before the sorting, glaring particularly at a rather dull witted looking boy who had his finger jammed up his nose.

"Where's he going?" she asked Luna

"Hmm? Oh, usually Hufflepuff. Once though he made friends with Vincent Crabbe on the ride over and went to Slytherin." Luna answered, glancing over at the boy.

The class entered the Great Hall and many murmured at the floating candles, the night sky charm up above, and the sea of students in black robes, leading the way up to the head table where variations in color finally showed. Dumbledore himself was easily recognizable with his half-moon glasses and long silver beard. Lockhart too was hard to miss in bright aquamarine robes that glittered in the candle light, his mouth in what seemed to be a permanent beaming heard several girls around her sigh blissfully. Ginevra herself felt vaguely ill, and continued looking down the staff table.

Herbology teacher. Game keeper almost breaking the chair with his large frame. Tiny man who must be Flitwick. Empty chair. Dumbledore. Empty chair. Grasshopper lady. Rune lady. Muggle studies teacher wearing muggle clothing, Kettleburn down to 1 leg now. The witch with the star motif robes must be astronomy. Pretty witch poking drowsy astronomy professor with a spoon matches a description by Percy of the Arithmancy professor. A medi-witch. A very ugly man holding an equally ugly cat. Where was the infamous Professor Snape though?

Professor McGonagall called the first name from the list "Abernathy, Ethan!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Ackerly, Sean!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

And so on. Ginevra glanced at the dirty old hat that would choose their futures and sent out a tendril of her own magic to it curiously. It was a web of magics, she could sense four main ancient magics, and multiple other presences in the web, no doubt that of previous headmasters. One such thread went to Dumbledore who watched the ceremony with twinkling eyes.

Ginevra scowled. The amount of information the headmaster could gain from each sorting would be, limiting, for her movements in the future. She didn't need a tattle-tale hat.

Luna was sorted into Ravenclaw. Astoria Greengrass into Slytherin. And the boy who had been picking his nose was, as Luna had predicted sorted into Hufflepuff. Colin Creepy was the first Gryffindor. Then finally "Ginevra Weasley!"

Ginevra sat on the rickety stool, the sorting hat fell over her eyes and there was darkness."Goodness your mind is noisy. Well, Hufflepuff's out." Said a dry voice in the front of her mind.

'Glad that's settled.'Ginevra thought back, quite used to voices in her head and unconcerned with the introduction of another one.

"You've a enough sharp mind when you're sane for Ravenclaw, but you don't enjoy learning for learning sake. And your sense of wit would have the majority of them running for the hills screaming."

'And I'd be bored. I don't like being bored.'She replied lightly as thoughts of a bloody massacre slipped dreamily through her mind.

"I can see that." the hat muttered. "That leaves Slytherin and Gryffindor."

'Isn't it obvious I belong in Slytherin?' Ginevra asked

"Well that's for me to decide." The hat replied tartly. "Thing is Slytherin isn't about being evil, despite what people seem to think now a days. The requirements for Slytherin are breeding, cunning and ambition or power."

'I know. I have those! Put all my little eggs all in one basket!' Ginevra was getting cross now. Even Ron could figure out she was meant for the snake house.

"Except that you're not that ambitious. You don't care that much for the future, you're very much focused on the present. You're extremely hedonistic, sadistic, and you have a certain type of cunning, but it's not subtle. You enjoy being caught. You like scaring people."

'And what s wrong with that? It's done wonders for me.' She thought back with a pout.

"No. While the snake house would accept you, you'd get frustrated with all the political maneuvering, the unending polite civility that covers the poisonous fangs underneath, and not having anyone around to play with. In Gryffindor you will never be bored, and boredom is what bothers you the most." The hat decided firmly.

Ginevra pouted. 'Mean hat.'

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted out loud.

She stood and removed the hat, a smirk crossing her face as she glanced around her. Fred and George were both looking unsettled. Percy looked proud and unaware as ever. Draco looked quite confused. Professor Astronomy and Arithmancy both seemed curious. Dumbledore was twinkling away like Arthur's muggle ditzco ball. The giant man Hagrid was beaming... probably. It was hard to tell through the huge beard. And Lockhart was examining his reflection in the back of his soup spoon.

Giving back Professor McGonagall the sorting hat, she went to sit at the red swathed table, taking a seat next to the annoying shutterbug she had frightened on the train and smiling toothily at him as he almost wet himself edging as far away from her as possible. She turned back to the sorting to watch the Wilkes boy get sorted into Slytherin before McGonagall carried both stool and hat away and Dumbledore stood clapping his hands twice to catch everyone's attention.

"Welcome to our students, both new and old! I can only imagine how hungry you all are, so I'll spare you an old mans waffling." He twinkled. "Let me merely say bon appetite!" and he waved his hands dramatically as food covered every platter on all five tables.

Ginevra calmly speared a rare stake from a platter to her left and placed it on her golden plate before her, added some mushy peas, and scowled at the lack of choices offered with regard to drinks. Pumpkin juice of all things? Far too sweet and cloying.

She blinked as a pitcher of ice water flavored with lemon slices came into her view from her left. She turned her head and looked at the girl next to her. Cool blue eyes met hers from behind a pair of glasses. The girls uniform and long white blonde hair that reached the girls midback were the only visible sign that she was indeed a girl, her face was androgynous, no curves had formed yet, and she stood two heads taller than every other first year. Her uniform was neat and crisp to the point of almost military sharpness, and a golden cross pin was affixed to her tie. "Victoria Wingates." She introduced herself, looking at her with detached amusement. "I don't favor sweets either."

Ginevra grinned toothily at the girl. "I like sweets. Just not human ones." She accepted the jug and poured her own glass full before thunking it down on Creepys left hand, enjoying his yelp of pain.

Victoria's gaze sharpened. "Not human ones?" Ginevra simply laughed eerily, and set to work on her stake. Victoria's gaze moved from Ginevra's plate, to the dark scar in the shape of a feather that decorated the skin behind the red-heads ear that was made visible as Ginevra leaned forward to help herself to a sliver of venison, and to the red stained fingers that caressed the knife in her hand absently before starting in on the act of carving the meat.

Victoria "Hmmm"ed softly to herself and served herself a grilled fish fillet, some steamed brussels sprouts, and a small loaf of bread with butter. She glanced about at the other students around her. Having been taught from an early age as the heir to Wingates family, Victoria was well trained to observe many details at a glance and to deduce things from there, and she could tell Ginevra was the chosen of a pagan god, and was probably not entirely well, physically or mentally.

'This will be interesting. No doubt about it. What would Uncle Artie say in a situation like this? To bring honor to the Wingates name and to Queen and country no doubt.' She sipped her own glass of ice water and continued her silent study of Ginevra Weasley, whom was certainly the most interesting of her new housemates.

She observed as the headmaster was interrupted midway through dinner and he and Professor McGonagall follow a sallow faced and excited looking professor who matched Dornez's description of Professor Severus Snape, although the expression of excitement seemed out of place.

She wondered where they were going and why they would interrupt the feast for such a thing, but was distracted by loud voice two spaces down. "So, I think we should all introduce ourselves, because we're going to be together for seven whole years and I'm sure we all want to be very good friends!" the girl chirped with a syrupy smile stretched across her pretty face. "My name is Blanche Tinker, I'm a half blood, and I want to breed unicorns when I graduate."

A horse faced brunette with an overbite eagerly leaned forward and introduced herself as Nina Ross, a pureblood who wanted to take over her parents small potions shop in Traders Alley. From there came Sean Ackerly who was a muggleborn and very excited, Colin Creevey said he was from a "normal" family and loved photography and glanced fearfully toward Ginevra. Brandon Blackwell did not give his blood status but instead gave his name and introduced his cousin Darren Shields who likewise did not give his. Frieda Bernstein was a blond pureblood of Norse decent, and murmured that she was already homesick. Bert Slack proudly said he was a muggleborn and the others edged away from him as he gave off a rather strong body odor.

Ginevra stared at them all emotionlessly for a second before giving a sharp toothed grin and stated her name was Ginevra Weasley and ordered them all not to be boring, punctuating her statement by tearing a piece of stake with her teeth and allowing the red juices to drip down her chin.

Blanche noticeably shuddered, and turned to Victoria, her eyes narrowing. "And who are you dear?" she cooed.

"I am Victoria Camilla Wingates, of the Wingates Organization. And I will ask you to never call me dear again. You will not enjoy the consequences." Victoria returned coldly. Blanche struck her immediately as an empty headed, self absorbed and vicious socialite trying to gain dominance of her schoolmates for her own gain, and beneath Victoria's notice.

Ginevra cackled at the resulting expression on Blanche's face and said "If you ever decide to consequence her with a knife, I'll be happy to sharpen yours for you." and gestured to her butter knife. For some reason Victoria felt that she had just made a very dangerous friend...

**AN This has been a very long chapter, at least by my standards. Yes I have original characters in here, but as we re only given one other Gryffindor s name in Ginny's year in the books, I feel it was inevitable, and so tried to make them as non-Mary Sueish as possible. **

**Victoria Wingates is not a Mary Sue, nor is she an original character, kudos to anyone who recognizes her, since I changed her name. Blanche and Nina are both based off of girls I knew in Elementary school. Darren Shields is also borrowed and I leave the source unnamed to see if anyone can figure it out. None of the borrowed characters more extraordinary back stories will be involved in the story, this isn't a crossover. You may see cameos from family members, but other than that nothing outside of HP. **

**Snape was of course fetching McGonagall and Dumbledore to the dungeon to try and expel Harry and Ron for the whomping willow incident. I am curious as to peoples reaction to Ginevra's characterization, I want it to remain fairly consistent, and if I make a mistake I d like to be alerted. **

**Bert Slack is based on an ex-boyfriend of a friend of mine and like Lockhart for Rowling will be flamed horribly. And I will enjoy myself utterly. *snickers***

**Please review! :)  
**


	9. of aftermath and howlers

**Ginevra in Darkness**

** Chapter 9 **

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy **

**Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or anything else you recognize, and probably don't own a few things you don't. JK Rowling owns all that is the HP universe! I'm just rearranging it a bit. lol**

If ever there was a man who had nothing worth living for except the belief that whatever came next would undoubtedly be worse, it was Severus Snape. Bitter, callus, wretched, hated and hardened, he had no one to turn to from childhood, his only happiness ruined first by his own hand then stolen by that of the one he hated most in the world, before being ripped from it entirely, leaving only shadows to mock him. He considered himself in a hell of his own making that had been carved for him from the rock by first his parents, then his peers and those damned Gryffindors, then by his own hand and his two masters. He was left abandoned in the dungeons, in cold darkness, damp and festering in his own misery with his potions the only source of pride he had left, forced to teach his craft to sniveling, grasping, uncaring little fools who knew nothing, had not a fraction of his genius but would go on to be successful, happy and free from the bondage that left him to rot in the darkness. There were months where he was unable to touch his wand for fear of his despair and anger bursting forth in a torrent of magical energy destroying all around him.

And so he remained in the bowels of Hogwarts, doomed, like his patron god Hades, to the Underworld without reprieve, without hope, without beauty. He would, in all likelihood die and be buried here as well. Dumbledore claimed to trust him, of course he did! He had him so tied in knots that Severus felt twinkling blue eyes following him everywhere. He could never find other work, another job – the brand on his arm made sure of that. Never could he escape, his dept drowning him in the darkest of caverns. But did Dumbledore believe him? Really listen to him? No, of course not. He was a tool, to be used and put away as needed. He slammed a clenched fist against the dark marble fireplace of his quarters, brows pinched in thought. The feast had ended, the Slytherins seen to, addressed and given their schedules for the next morning, and he had retired for the night, but sleep as usual was a phantom out of reach. Potters brat had once again escaped punishment; instead his behavior– as usual – was waved away as youthful mischief. Not even house points removed. And that puffed up peacock Lockhart had claimed the Defense position, Severus dreaded to think what he would teach the brats… and then of course, there was…

Ginevra Molly Weasley. Hardly a name to make one shake in terror. But the girl herself… a vassal of the House of Malfoy at the age of 11, chosen by the goddess Badb – the Battle Crow, eater of the dead and fallen, and now, against all odds, a Gryffindor. Well, he admitted to himself, it was not that Gryffindor was unvisited by the cruel and power mad, Sirius Black had taught him that over 20 years ago. But that Slytherin should not have taken her... it was strange. And it would cause his warnings to go unheard. Dumbledore had a blind spot a mile wide when it came to his lions, Severus's tale of her bonding would undoubtedly be waved away, now that the little witch was clothed in the red and gold. He would make the same mistake he had made with Sirius Black again and again, with Severus left cleaning up the messes. The girl was as mad as Bella Black-Lestrange had ever been, he could only hope that her magic was weaker, even perhaps deformed and crippled. Because otherwise… once again it fell to him to protect the world that damned him, this time watching the girl, the nundu in kneazels fur. The fire went out while he was lost in thought, the darkness swallowing him whole, alone and unwanted.

)o()O()O()o(

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sucked on a lemon drop, listening to the sorting hats report on the newest batch of first years. Nineteen purebloods, ten half-bloods, and ten muggleborns. Each house had ended up with ten new students with the exception of Ravenclaw who ended up with nine. Now the hat was going house by house, giving his read on any student that was unusual in anyway.

"-and those cousins, Blackwell and Sheilds, they're as thick as thieves, and have begun occlumancy training already at home. Robert Slack is a piece of work as well, a real brat in the making, spoiled rotten at home." The hat sniffed in annoyance.

"And what about the Wingates girl?" Albus prompted the hat. "The Wingates are as powerful as the Malfoys in their way, is the girl for the light?"

The hat paused, gathering his thoughts. "She's ruthless when she needs to be. But I've not seen a stronger sense of honor since Godrics day. The ideal noble really… Personally I'm just hoping the Wingates family pet doesn't make any appearances…" He shuddered as much as a hat can shudder.

Albus's eyes widened in horror. "He's LOOSE?"

"Not so much loose as on a leash. Abrahams locked him tightly to the bloodline, young Victoria holds the reigns. He has gained a certain sense of … macabre humor since you last met him though I believe. Don't touch that girl though Albus. He's very fond of his new Master, the last assassination attempt on her… they were picking up the pieces for days."

Albus frowned, he did not like facing creatures like those hunted by the Wingates family, ones with nothing to lose, with no sense of self-preservation but blood-thirsty and senseless in slaughter… and then Abraham had to go and leave the strongest of their kind alive and kept like a pet… damn the man anyway. If he had listened to Albus the creature would be so much dust in the wind.

"Continue." He ordered

"Bernstien thinks in Swedish, so I've no idea what's going on in her head. Creevey's a little stalker in the making – the Potter boy is going to need that invisibility cloak of his this year. Ackerlys head is full of potty jokes… hope he grows out of that soon, I did NOT need to know 42 verses of the diarrhea song." He complained.

Albus chuckled sympathetically, going through the minds of eleven year olds was not a fun task.

The hat paused, then said slowly "And then there's the youngest Weasley."

"Ah, young Ginevra! So nice to have another Weasley at Hogwarts." Albus smiled.

"Albus she's a monster. As sick in the head as they come! And she has this book-"

Albus shook his head sadly. "I am disappointed. You of all people" ("I'm a hat!") "should know better than to judge someone based on Severus's biases."

"I am NOT judging her by what Snape told you! Have you forgotten I shuffled through her head? I was the one hearing all the little beasts thoughts of torture and death! She wanted to rip out your eyeballs and wear them as earrings!"

Albus shook his head. "This makes no sense. Why would a Weasley be … damaged? Arthur and Molly are only fourth cousins… and she never reported any accidents or incidents that could have caused anything like this."

"She's a Black by blood, twice over. Two grandparents are Blacks, with only an infusion of Prewett and Weasley to temper the Black madness. And she's inherited it! Mad as a hatter! And that book! That diary!"

Albus sighed. "What book is this?"

"Riddles diary! It talks to her! She's toying with it, and I'd bet my brim he's toying with her right back! I don't know what in Godrics name that thing is, but it's DARK magic, and even she's figured out that it wants to devour her, magic and all!"

Albus's brows furrowed. "But he's not controlling her? He's powerless?"

"He is for now, as far as she can tell anyway."

"This bears further thought and study, there may be an opportunity here." He was quiet for a minute before prompting. "Tell me about the Hufflepuffs."

The hat sighed and gave a quick discription. "Mostly muggleborns. Terrance Toots has not inherited his father's gift with plants. Kills every plant he touches. Sprouts going to have a coronary. Basil Wayne's another odd duck, a genius I think, I would have put him in Ravenclaw except he needs friends or he'll burn himself out. Jonathan Witson has a healers gift, favored by Apollo I think. Sarah Williams is sure she's living one of her muggle fairy tales, she's in for a rude awakening, still thinks life should be fair. Mary Keyes and Catherine Cole have bonded over some muggle romance book series about vampires that Williams is going to throw a fit about when she finds out. Dorcus Belby almost deserves her name, such a snooty child. Galatea Harkiss was a bundle of nerves, Crux Hobday is as thick as Vincent Crabbe on a bad day, and Leonard Harris wishes his mother loved him more."

Albus nodded thoughtfully, committing the information to memory. "And the Ravenclaws?"

"Luna Lovegood's impossible to read properly, her thoughts are like will-o-the-whisps. Fu Fens hard to read as well – he thinks in a mix of Chinese and English. Akanksha Bashir is a very somber girl – a classic Ravenclaw. Adam Young's going to be a terror, his magic is dark inclined but chaotic, misses some friends back home, I've never seen a boy more attached to a place in my life. His whole head was full of his little village of Tadfield. Ethan Abernathy's a teacher's pet in the making. Lyra Bagnold's got privileged child written all over her. Jasmine Yi is concerned over how graduating from Hogwarts will prepare her for the job market. Gaston Bertrams head is full of Quidditch and gobstones. And Douglas Baddock is worried his parents won't speak to him anymore because he didn't get into Slytherin."

"Nothing unusual there. And the Slytherins?"

"The usual purebloods, two halfbloods. Mirach Urquart adores his sister, she's a prefect this year – Lucinda. Electra Rohini is betrothed to a boy at Durmstrang. Astoria Greengrass just got her period and doesn't know what it is and thinks she's dying – I told her to go to Madame Pomfrey tomorrow. Maia Gamp has her head in the stars and constellations. Aquila Altarf was entirely focused on the feast. Hydrus Wilkes is abused at home, his father didn't take the dark lords fall well. Kastra Mizar wants to be betrothed to Alcor Harper, but his parents think hers is lower class. And Venant O'Hare swore at me in Gaelic when I messed up his hair."

Albus nodded absently, swiveling in his large chair to look at his familiar. Fawkes chirped weakly from the ashes of his latest burning day and he gave a gusty sigh. "This year was already complicated enough with Wingates, I've still got Harry to guide. I leave him alone for a month and he drives a flying car of all things to school… and of course the purebloods throwing their weight around demanding extra privileges for their heirs… And now I have the Wingates pet to worry about, Tom's diary and a young psychopath playing games… well at least we still have the Weasley twins and now young Gilderoy to lighten things… And Arthur's Muggleborn Protection Act needs my help to get through the Wizengamot, Lucius is hissing in Cornelius's ears and lining his pockets, Nicholas is still out for my blood for the Philosophers stone debacle, and Olympe sent me an owl about restarting the Tri-Wizard tournament of all things! Igor has already agreed. Merlin I need a headache potion…" he muttered.

Fawkes gave a pathetic cough and then hiccupped.

"You're no help at all." The wizard informed the phoenix dryly.

)o( )o( )o( )o( )o( )o(

Ginevra woke early the next morning, as was her habit, and glanced about the dormitory. She had gone to bed as soon as they had left the feast, forgoing the bonding experience that seemed to be occurring between Blanche, Nina, and Frieda which involved decorating their portion of the dorm with wizarding pictures from Witch Weekly, pictures of unicorns, a large pile of plushies at the end of each bed, and placing what seemed to her what must be the entire stock of a cosmetics boutique on their dressing tables. It was so sweet and fluffy that she had to fight down a gag. All three were asleep, their curtains still drawn.

Wingates had claimed the bed in the corner next to the window and had hung up an elegant fencing epee on the wall next to her four poster, her uniform set out for the next day and placed a picture of a smiling man in a muggle suit on her night stand. That was the extent of her decorating. Her bed was already empty. Ginevra wondered if she'd ever killed anything with the epee, it looked old and well taken care of.

After a quick shower and dressing – taking care to leave the showers set on their hottest setting for their next users – Ginevra grabbed her bag and after checking that Tom's diary was in it, made her way down to the common room, and from there down the tower stairs toward the Great Hall. After a few wrong turns she followed the scent of hot bacon and sausage to the right room, and sat down at the Gryffindor table and poured herself a cup of strong coffee. She was not a morning person, though she had trained herself to wake before everyone else in the Burrow. Victoria had beaten her though, which peeved her.

She was on her second cup by the time the students started trickling in, mostly in groups of two or three, some Ravenclaws on their own – noses already buried in a book. Professor Snape was the first to sit at the head table, joined shortly by Professor McGonagall and the herbology professor who judging by the dirt on her robes had been at work already. She was debating on the merits of bacon over sausage when someone sat beside her. She glanced over and fought back a growl. Percy. He babbled at her about how proud he was of her getting into Gryffindor, so sorry he didn't have time to tell her last night, prefect work to do you know… Ginevra tuned him out.

Tom had said last night that she was slipping. She was letting her true self show far too much, and it did not do to catch Dumbledore's attention. Once you had it, it was harder to get rid of then a bundamun infestation. She was going to have to retreat a bit. She would have to fit in with the unwashed masses. That meant caging her impulses, and leaving her bloodlust unsated. Her fingers itched already. Percy patted her on the shoulder and made his way to a pretty Ravenclaw prefect two tables down.

Being normal… as though she had any idea what that was supposed to look like! The only people she knew was her family, the Lovegoods, the Diggorys, and the Malfoys. And the Lovegoods stood out, as did the Malfoys. What was normal? She snarled softly to herself, uncaring of the spaces that grew around her as those sitting near her edged away warily.

"Morning." Came a crisp Oxford accent, breaking her thought process. Victoria slid into the seat next to her, her uniform pressed and crisp looking. Ginevra stared at her as she poured herself a cup of tea and took an English muffin off a tray and spread marmalade on it.

Victoria raised a cool eyebrow at her when she noticed her staring. "Yes?"

"You're sitting next to me." She did not need to add, _willingly_.

"You remind me of Baskerville." Victoria replied, nibbling at her muffin. "Baskerville?"

Sounded like a dog. If it reminded Victoria of her it must be a hell of a dog though.

"My family pet, he's been with us for generations. He's a grim." The slight pause before she said grim noticed by Ginevra and filled away for later. "He has an unusual sense of humor. Your comment about knives last night reminded me of him."

"Does he talk?" Ginevra asked curiously, she didn't know much about grims, or whatever Baskerville really was.

Victoria paused before answering. "He makes his wants known. We understand each other quite well."

Ginevra nodded and then grinned toothily and snapped her teeth at Creepy who had been cautiously making his way into the seat on her other side. He squeaked and darted away to sit with some third years who were yawning into their cereal.

Breakfast passed without incident until the post arrived. Parcels and letters were dropped by owls to the students bellow, when the hall was distracted by the sudden yelp and crash and cry of "_Errol_!" from Ron and then a low moan of horror and an "Oh-no!"

Ginevra leaned back to get a better view, anything that bothered her brother was always fun for her.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, Ginevra had to strain to hear

"She's-she's sent me a Howler…"

Dragon dung. She did not want to hear Molly Weasleys voice bellowed at ear popping volume this early in the morning. She sneered.

"You'd better open it, Ron." Came Longbottoms voice. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once. It was awful."

"What's a Howler?" Harry asked – clueless as usual.

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes —"

A second later a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"—**STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE** –" Molly Weasleys voice, a hundred times louder than usual, made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that Ginevra couldn't make him out at all. Ginevra wondered what on earth possessed the two to take the car, although she would have enjoyed the look on her parents faces when they realized it was gone.

**"—LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED! I'M ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"**

Then to Ginevra's annoyance the howler fluttered over to her chair and said now at normal volume – "Oh and Ginny dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor, your father and I are so proud!" before it burned up on the spot and fell onto her plate.

A ringing silence filled the hall, and Ginevra scowled and promptly stabbed the ashes with her butter knife before pulling out a fresh blood pop from her bag and gnawing on it feverishly.

Victoria tactfully said nothing and simply sipped her tea, and eventually the sound returned to normal as some people laughed and life moved on. Well mostly. Ginevra was going to have to figure out a way to punish her brother and pet for their part in her humiliation. As though ending up in Gryffindor wasn't bad enough!

McGonagall handed out the schedules for all years, and Ginevra sighed. Potions with the Slytherins first period, then lunch, Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, dinner and Astronomy at midnight for all years. Yawn. Only an hour into the first day and she was already feeling like it would be hell. Of course, that could just be because Blanche, Nina and Frieda had managed to make it down to breakfast unscalded and were giggling over one of the Lockhart books. The man in question was talking a mile a minute at Professor Snape who looked ready to kill something, preferably the man next to him. Ginevra experienced an odd feeling welling up inside and wondered vaguely if this was what pity felt like. If so she didn't like it. It was uncomfortable.

Then Victoria stood and looked at her expectantly, getting a mocking smile in return and the two made their way to back to the dorm to fetch their books and supplies before heading to their first class at Hogwarts. Potions. With the Slytherins. This should be fun…

**AN. Yes I know, I actually updated! It's a miracle! Or close to one. There's a bunch of easter eggs in this chapter, I'm curious if anyone gets them all. **

**Please review, it's really depressing as an author to see that several hundred people read or at least started your newest chapter and didn't leave a review, you never know if you just scared them off somehow, or if they just didn't have time. **

**Albus is a manipulative old coot in this fic, but he is doing things for what he considers the Greater Good. Still sucks to be Harry though. Oh and he's got this stupid idea that abuse is just the result of people needing more time together to solve their problems. Which implies it's partially the abused persons fault. He is wrong. But that's how I see his actions. **

**I gave a lot of little details about Ginevra's year mates, I have them all written down with even more detail in other places, but I wanted to flesh out the story a bit character wise. And I've always thought that people having the sorting hat NOT tell Dumbledore what he sees for whatever reason is a bit of a cop out. I wanted to actually have it occur in my story, so here it is. **

**Also I posted a new fic – Ginevra in Darkness Drabbles for bits that don't fit into the main story line but might give you a bit of background into a character or situation or whatever I feel like writing about. Currently it's a short about Victoria, Baskerville and her butler as she gets ready for Hogwarts. More will show up sooner or later. ;) Check it out on my profile page. Please read and review! :)**


	10. Of Potions and Herbs

**Ginevra in Darkness **

**Chapter 10 Virginia **

**Riddle-Malfoy **

**Disclaimer – Harry Potter does not belong to me, it belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling. Neither does anything else you recognize. I own the plot. That's it.**

Ginevra huffed as she thunked her cauldron down onto the table before her. Reminder to self – learn lightening charm at first opportunity. Professor Snape had not arrived yet, and the Slytherins were making their way into the room in groups, while most of the Gryffindors – having been warned prior to their leaving the breakfast table to never be late for Snape's classes – were huddled over their cauldrons looking fearful.

Victoria was pulling out a leather notebook and a quill from her bag, Ginevra debating the merits of doing the same when a Slytherin girl walked over to their table. Ginevra raised a curious eyebrow. Glasses, brown hair, and a bored air she wore like a cloak.

The girl spoke in a monotone – "Hello. I'm Cassiopeia Crux. Malfoy said to give this to you. If it's hexed I'm not taking responsibility. If it's a love letter I'm really not taking responsibility." She handed Ginevra the folded up parchment and made her way back to the Slytherin side of the room, where she was immediately questioned by her housemates. The girl didn't bat an eyelash and just shrugged off their attentions, pulling out their potions text and starting to read.

Victoria looked at Ginevra curiously.

She shrugged and slipped the note into one of the pages of Tom's diary in her bag. She would read it later in a less populated area. The chatter amongst students continued for a few more minutes before Ginevra felt a slightly familiar magical signature, one she vaguely recognized from her bonding ceremony and a dark corner of the Great Hall during breakfast and the sorting feast. Correctly deducing that it must be Professor Snape, she leaned forward curiously as the door to the hall swung open with a loud bang that caused all conversation to die instantly.

Snape swept to the front of the room, robes billowing dramatically behind him before making a tight and elegant turn that left him facing the class, which was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Professor Snape was the sort of professor that could command respect without much effort, because he was worth fearing. Everyone knew of his abuses to students outside his own house, his blatant favoritism and cruelty. However he was never removed, never put under scrutiny by the board of governors', never ordered to teach differently. He did not introduce himself. There was no need to. Instead he said in a soft deadly voice akin to the sound a sword makes when drawn from its sheath –

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. I do not expect much from you, having taught your siblings before you, possibly even your parents. My time and patience is always wasted by the utter lack of talent and respect the dunderheads I am forced to teach every year have for the art of potion making. However, should one or two of you manage to give me a positive surprise and have aptitude for the subject… I can teach you to create obsession, cure death, how to walk undetected amongst the greatest aurors of our time without their even noticing the movement of a blade of grass. The power of potions is in its subtlety, its endurance and its ability to give a wizard more than the power granted to him by the gods by drawing on those powers invoked and possessed by the components of the potions themselves. A better title for this class would be ritual arts, however… those that have the power make the rules."

He glared at the assembled first years and then drew a scroll from his robes.

"Ackerly." A small Gryffindor boy raised his trembling hand. "Here… sir?" he added at Snapes glare.

"Altarf" A hawk nosed Slytherin raised his hand.

"Bernstein." The blond Swede gave a soft "'Ere sir."

"Blackwell." He sneered at the name. "Here sir."

"Creevey" Oh, so that way his name. Ginevra noted. Ah well. "H-h-h-ere! SIR!" he stammered before yelping the last word fearfully.

"Crux." A monotone "Present." answered.

"Gamp" "Here sir."

"Greengrass." "Yes sir."

"Harper." Another Slytherin.

"Mizar." And another.

"O'Hara" A well coifed looking Slytherin chirped "Here sir!" and received a freezing stare in return.

"Rohini." A Mediterranean looking girl nodded politely.

"Ross." The horse faced girl squeaked out a "Here sir!" before hiding behind her cauldron once more.

"Slack." Bert had been visibly gathering himself and said loudly "Here." Pointedly not using the Sir honorific. Snape scowled at the smelly Gryffindor boy. He moved on for the moment however.

"Shields." The brunette sitting next to his cousin Brandon bowed his head "Here sir."

"Tinker." A head of blonde curls rose from behind her cauldron where she had been exchanging horrified glances with Nina. "Of course Professor Snape!" she gave a bright smile which was shot down by an unimpressed sneer.

"Urquart." Another Slytherin boy.

"Weasley." There was an almost unnoticeable pause before his reading this name. Ginevra smiled wickedly. "Ready and willing, sir."

Snape raised an unamused eyebrow. "Indeed…Wilkes."

"Here Professor."

"Wingates." Victoria seemed unimpressed with the vitriol being spewed out by the Professor and simply responded "Present Professor."

Snape put down the scroll and gazed around the class. "Slack!" he barked. "What are the properties of Moonstone?"

Bert blinked. "Uh, moonstone, like the rock?"

"Generally that is what stone implies." Snape sneered.

Slack seemed to be thinking very hard. Ginevra hoped it hurt as much as it looked. "It's used in potions?" he finally stammered weakly.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "A brilliant deduction Mr Slack. Perhaps one of your classmates can give us a better idea?" he glanced around. "Gamp?"

A pretty Slytherin girl with long black hair stood at her seat and recited from memory – "Moonstone properties – Moonstone is associated with the moon and the feminine, used in potions for healing especially for those related to menstrual problems, fertility, and childbirth. It's the stone of understanding, inner clarity and purity. Connected to the goddess Artemis, Diana, Selene, Yue, Thoth and Tsukuyomi. In potions it's a primary ingredient in include the Draught of Peace, the wolfsbane potion, and blood replenishment potions."

"10 points to Slytherin. So Slack, since your classmate has educated you in the use of Moonstone, perhaps you can inform us who the creator of the Wolfsbane potion was?" he raised a dark eyebrow.

Bert looked sullen and sulky. "How would I know? I thought you were here to teach us!" he said looking expectantly around for support from his housemates. Brandon and Darren glanced at each other in horror and refused to meet his gaze. Ginevra just grinned at him, clicking her teeth at him wolfishly. Victoria kept her eyes on Snape.

"So you thought yourself too important to open your book before class Slack? Didn't bother studying? I can see once again my already low expectations are going to be proven too high. 10 points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a teacher, another 10 for unpreparedness. Does anyone else wish to attempt to answer?"

Ginevra raised a lazy hand. Snape looked at her and slowly drawled "Weasley?"

"The wolfsbane potion was invented by Damocles Belby in 1975 for which he was awarded the Order of Merlin first class. Professor." She purred at the man, ignoring the looks of horror and confusion she was being given by Nina, Blache and Frieda and most of the other Gryffindors.

"Correct. Apparently Slack at least one of your housemates bothered to prepare. Now final question – Miss Wingates. Name an ingredient in a shrinking solution."

Victoria thought for a moment before answering. "Lamprey teeth sir?"

Snape paused, and then nodded grudgingly. "More commonly used is leech juice, however Lamprey teeth are an acceptable substitute." The Gryffindors around them relaxed only to jump when Snape snapped "Well! Why aren't you writing this down?"

The room was filled with the scratching of quills on parchment before Snape set them to making a simple boil curing potion. He set them in pairs and put Ginevra with Bert Slack smirking at the annoyed looking boy and stating "Perhaps with a better prepared partner you can accomplish something resembling a potion – however I doubt it."

Ginevra took to preparing the ingredients, gleefully crushing the snake fangs in her mortar with her pestle into dust before starting on drowning her slugs to stew them. Bert had started up the fire beneath the cauldron and was weighing the nettles rather sloppily when Snape shouted "Get the cauldron off the fire you idiot!" and the cauldron shattered from the sudden heat of the fire after being so cold. Shards exploded outwards, slicing into skin, robes and the potions being prepared nearby.

"Didn't I tell you to first warm your cauldron with hot water from the sinks?" Snape hissed at Bert and turned to lecture Ginevra to find her licking the blood from a cut on her hand happily as a cat with cream, her slugs all very dead and lined up on the remains of the table like the contents of a mortuary. Bert meanwhile was blubbering, his robes charred and bleeding from several cuts in his face.

"Get to the hospital wing Slack, and stop your pathetic whinging. Weasley, do you need medical attention?"

Ginevra grinned. "Oh, no thank you. Pain is something to embrace in life."

Snape looked vaguely unsettled but dismissed it. "Does anyone else need medical attention?" Blanche gave a hiccupping sob and raised a pink nailed hand to show the shard imbedded in the palm. Nina looked at Snape desperate for direction.

"If Weasley doesn't need aid for her cuts you can pull that out and wash it in the sink Tinker." He snapped. Then he set the class 6 inches on proper cauldron preparation and care and dismissed them after they put their cauldrons (those still usable anyway) away along with tools and ingredients.

)o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o()o(

Ginevra felt her first class had gone quite well, she had freaked out her classmates and possibly her teacher, sent a boy to the hospital wing by not correcting his stupidity when she noticed it, and gotten to kill some slugs. Plus she rarely tasted her own blood and found it quite a treat. She even allowed Victoria to grab her hand and (after asking some directions from several portraits) pull her to the library to work on their essays.

They settled down at a table in the back, far from the piercing gaze of Madame Pince the librarian and opened their books. Victoria pulled out Magical Drafts and Potions and after a seconds pause One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and began scanning through the indexes. Ginevra ignored her to pull out the note Crux had given her earlier.

_"Dear Miss Ginevra Weasley, _

_I must admit I was shocked when news of your placement reached me last night, I owe Severus a book of his choosing from my library as a result, however perhaps this shall work out to everyone's benefit. I sent an owl to Severus this morning expressing my concern that you be allowed to learn in an unstressed environment. I have no doubt he will comply with my wishes. I expect great things from you my dear vassal. _

_I am concerned with the teaching ability of Lockhart, I have already told Draco reporting his experiences, I would like your opinions on the matter as well. Should he prove as incompetent as I believe I will arrange for Severus to take the matter in hand, he is an expert in many types of magic and an old friend of mine, as well as being Draco's godfather. _

_Should you require anything feel free to alert Draco, Severus or send me an owl. Narcissa sends her greetings and hopes you are well and advises that you should try to make friends with the young Slytherins in your year, many of them were present at your Bonding ceremony and know of your position, they will not refuse your company should you desire someone more of your station. Be careful what you put in writing. _

_Yours affectionately, _

_Lord Lucius Abraxius Malfoy"_

Ginevra hummed softly, before setting fire to the parchment with a jab of her wand. Lucius wasn't displeased at her placing, a good thing. And had explained the dour potion masters unusually … lenient behavior toward her. She continued considering his words while removing her copy of Potions : An Encyclopedia of Ingredients, Uses, Techniques and Recipes from her bag, turning to the section on techniques and starting on her own essay.

They worked in silence for the better part of an hour before they were interrupted by a soft "Good morning." The two glanced up and Victoria blinked in surprise.

"Hello Luna." Ginevra greeted cheerfully, taking in the girls butterbeer cork necklace, radish earrings, the wand placed behind one ear for safe keeping and rainbow striped socks, not to mention the lack of shoes.

"Hello Ginevra Weasley and friend. May I join you? The other Ravenclaws have informed me their tables are full."

Victoria glanced over to a table of giggling first year girls with several empty seats looking in their direction. "Of course, Luna was it?" she asked politely.

"Oh yes. I am Luna Lovegood. Or I am today. Perhaps I shall be someone else tomorrow." Luna said airily turning her chair backwards and slipping her legs through the bars.

Ginevra grinned. "Luna, this is Victoria Wingates. She has a pet grim at home. Victoria, Luna and her father are rather experts in unusual animals. They run the Quibbler."

Victoria frowned in thought. "I can't recall a publication by that name?"

Luna smiled dreamily. "I'd be happy to give you a copy of this month's edition." She replied then added "There are no such things as grims you know, it's just people mistaking one thing for another. Like a Cwn Annwyn or Barghest."

Victoria gave a strained smile. "I'm well aware of what Baskerville is, thank you. Where are your shoes?"

"I found that the nargles had borrowed them all early this morning. They use them as nests you know."

"Of …course." Victoria blinked, deciding that Luna was clearly not at all there, and in a way she was unfamiliar with. "What class have you had this morning?"

"History of Magic. I found it fascinating, if inaccurate."

"What's the professor like?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Dead." Luna said simply and pulled out her copy of A History of Magic and began reading. Victoria blinked again, before connecting the rumors of a ghost teaching at Hogwarts with Luna's statement. A ghost certainly could not teach a practical magic class after all… it made some sort of sense, even if none of the rest of what the girl said did, although she was oddly correct about Baskerville. She turned her attention back to Ginevra who had pulled out another blood pop – Victoria was detecting an addiction – and was gnawing on it absently while working on her potions essay.

Ginevra was an unexpected addition to her classmates. The socialites, the privileged nobles, the brain dead idiots, even the deadpan sarcastic Crux were all within the ranges of what she had been taught to anticipate by Dornez and her uncle Artie. But Ginevra… the similarities between her and Baskerville were both unnerving and slightly comforting. Without Baskerville himself around to keep her on her toes – and he had better not make any appearances – she needed some way to keep herself sharp for returning to her whimsical pet. And at least with Ginevra she was not responsible for any damage the girl caused.

The Wingates family had a history of official neutrality with regard to conflicts in the Wizarding World and the Muggle one. It was what allowed them to do their job without becoming the targets of upcoming dark lords, and the ministries cut backs. They were funded directly by the Queen and the Council. Their last interference was during the second muggle World War had occurred only when the Nazis had trod into their jurisdiction. She would observe and defend herself, but she owed no allegiance to any house or family beyond her own. Her duty was to defend the realm from the occult threats that faced it, not to interfere in school girl drama – save for if an innocent's life was in danger. She did not have the control over Ginevra that she had over Baskerville, however Ginevra did not have even a fourth of Baskervilles true power. And socializing with Ginevra would keep away the migraine that she felt threatening at the edges of her consciousness when around the other Gryffindor girls.

The bell rang and the three made their way to the Great Hall following the hoard of students in multicolored ties downward. Ginevra separated from the other two who made their way to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables respectively and plonked herself down at the Slytherin table next to Draco Malfoy who looked at her curiously.

"Hello Draconious." She said politely.

He removed a napkin from the table and dipped it in his water glass. "Good afternoon Ginevra. Were you aware that you're bleeding?" he asked solicitously as he patted his napkin against the cut on her forehead gently.

"Souvenir from potions class." She replied lightly allowing the touch. "I brought some papers that might interest your father." She said reaching into her bag and pulling out the raid schedules and notes on the Muggle Protection Act she had made the morning before, glancing about to see that the Slytherins surrounding them had casually formed a barrier between the views of the other houses and the head table. Draco took them and slipped them into his own bag.

"Thank you, I shall be sure he gets them. Are you staying for lunch? You're welcome to." he added curiously, wondering at the odd girls plans.

"Perhaps another time. I need to avoid menacingly twinkly eyes for now, or snicker snack and off with my head." Ginevra replied with a sinister smile, nodding to the other Slytherins before making her way over to the Gryffindor table, purposefully knocking Creeveys camera onto the ground on her way – giggling at the sound of shattering glass and a cry from its owner. Victoria was surrounded by Ross, Tinker, Slack (now returned from the Hospital Wing) and Ackerly all of whom were complaining about Snape and the homework already set. Her eye was twitching in annoyance. Ginevra instead sat in a nearby empty spot near Ron, Hermione and Harry. They were discussing Transfiguration and Rons newly broken wand.

"Well really Ron, it serves you right." Hermione was saying as she placed a handful of coat buttons into her bag.

"It's that bloody TREE'S fault Hermione!" Ron growled back furiously.

"What've we got this afternoon?" Harry asked trying to change the subject.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione blurted out far too eagerly.

Ron snatched up her schedule and demanded "Why have you outlined all of Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?"

Hermione snatched it back, blushing horribly and Ginevra found herself in the unusual position of agreeing with her brother. "I like hearts." She called over to Ron who blanched at the implication. Hermione didn't catch it and thanked her graciously. Ginevra scowled. How thick was this girl?

Lunch passed far too slowly until they were finally dismissed to their next classes. When they got to the greenhouses Professor Sprout was looking disgruntled and scowling at Greenhouse 3's closed door. "Going to have to have Hagrid set out traps. This is unbelievable." She muttered.

"Sorry Professor Sprout, what's wrong?" asked a short dirty blond haired Hufflepuff boy standing next to a boy with a passing resemblance to Professor Snape. "Oh, Witson. It's the oddest thing. I always lock up the Greenhouses, particularly the ones containing the more dangerous plants, but something got in and tore all my adult mandrakes to pieces. All that's left is the infant plants. Those were just repotted this morning so they'll be unusable for some time. It looks like some kind of dog got in, but I can't imagine how it didn't die from the screams…."

Ginevra felt Victoria stiffen slightly next to her.

"I'm going to have to order a new batch. Anyway, Green House one everyone!"

The greenhouse they entered was humid and full of herbs and vegetation. Sprout went over each type of plant they would be working with over the course of the year and then told Ginevra she would need new gloves as the dragon hide ones Molly had bought her had a hole in the thumb and would allow pus and Merlin knew what else to contact directly with her skin. Ginevra wondered if the Malfoy's had included that in the package they had sent and simply nodded. Victoria was in a bad temper for the rest of the afternoon and Ginevra slipped away after class to the dorm rooms.

Blanche and Nina were eagerly looking through a copy of Witch Weekly with Frieda looking on without enthusiasm. Blanche glared at her as she came in.

"I didn't expect to see you in here. Shouldn't you be off torturing some innocent creature?"

Ginevra stared back emotionlessly. "Wait." She told her.

She headed over to her bed and opened her trunk, tossing various objects on her bed before finding her statuette of Badb, placing it carefully beside her and continuing to search for a suitable altar cloth, finding nothing in her basic trunk and turning to the shrunken package from the Malfoys. She pulled out multiple robes, a black velvet cloak, shirts, skirts, socks, new leather shoes, a smaller box with a collection of jewelry, setting aside the new dragon hide gloves for later, and then after considering simply tossed all but one of the uniforms Molly had purchased for her away into the bin in the corner of the room replacing them with those given by the Malfoys. She returned to remove new copies of all the text books, a potion makers' kit with her initials engraved on the lid, parchment, quills and ink, and… yes! Items for an altar.

She pushed her dressing table against the wall and ignoring the stares of the other witches, placed the black feather pattern altar cloth, red and black candles, the pentacle paten from her bonding ceremony still stained with a bit of her blood in the center, her bloodstone knife on the left, added a censor and incense, goblet, a small iron cauldron, brass offering bowl, and in the back center the statue of Badb – midshift between a swarm of crows and her human-esque form – hair matted to her scalp with blood and filth, feathers scattered about and the bodies of the dead being torn to pieces by the crows at her base. She removed a besom from her trunk and swept in a circle around the altar, following with a ring of salt and her bloodstone deftly cutting the air around her. Then she squeezed some blood from the cut on her hand to seal the circle, ignoring the squeals of disgust from her roommates. There was a flash of red light and a black crow's feather was left to float down on to the pentacle. Ginevra smiled, pleased. Her offering was accepted. Next time however she would need to sacrifice something else.

"Ugh! I can't believe I have to share a dorm with you!" Nina said breaking the silence, looking at Blanche for agreement. "That can't be allowed! It's way too creepy!"

Ginevra smiled viciously. "You're welcome to try to take it down."

Blanche smiled back poisonously. "Come now Nina dear, I'm sure Ginevra will remove that … thing. And set up something a bit more hygienic if she absolutely must have an altar. I don't see the point myself of course; you don't dedicate yourself until your first monthly bleeding. But perhaps Ginevra is confused…?" she trailed off significantly.

To all presents surprise it was Frieda who disagreed. "Not all de families have de same rituals and times for de dedication. I am already dedicated to Angus Og, dat is why I am here in Hogwarts, rather den one of the Scandinavian schools." She said softly in her Swedish accent. "And some of de darker gods require blood to consecrate da circle." She glanced up catching Nina's horrified look and Blanches glare. "My broder was accepted by da Goddess Hel."

"And it's part of the schools bylaws that no student can be prevented from worshiping his or her god as they please provided no other student is hurt." Victoria added having come in during Frieda's response and deduced what was going on. Her clothes looked unusually ruffled and she was emitting a savage pride that Ginevra found curious. Her glasses flashed warningly at the two on the bed.

"Well that's just disgusting. That's what I think." Nina said with a pout.

"No one asked your approval Ross." Victoria countered unconcerned.

Blanche scowled and sniffed disapprovingly. "Rules can change." She muttered and slid the curtains shut.

Ginevra shrugged uncaring and wove the crow feather into her hair, returned everything to her trunk and removing Toms diary and Percy's everlasting ink quill and flopped onto her bed. She had a lot to tell Tom before dinner that night. She had done so well on acting normal today!

**AN – This is my longest chapter yet I think. Next chapter we get Tom/Ginevra interactions, a brief touching on astronomy and then the next day our first charms, transfiguration and DADA classes, Ginevra will reply to Lucius, and we get to see Ron puke up slugs. That's always fun! :) Please review! **

**Cathy Loves Heath – Ginevra doesn't particularly care about blood – as I mentioned in chapter 6. But she doesn't have any love for muggleborns either. Or anyone else. **

**80 Surprised Face – I tried to go back and fix the chapter titles but wouldn't let me, unfortunately. I will however fix this one for you. :) You get a bit of Snape and Ginevra interaction in this chapter – however Ginevra does not have anything in common with Lily aside from a vaguely similar hair color. And her aura is so strong for those trained to sense it that any confusion would be gone immediately. Lily had a very pure, gentle and caring aura – although she did have a temper. Ginevra's is about as opposite as you can get. However I love that you're involved enough to make suggestions and ideas about the story, please don't stop offering them! You never know when I'll find something that fits in. ^^ **

**Wanderingmusician – he made a brief appearance in this chapter if you notice, but yes, he'll be in and out occasionally. He gets bored easily at the Wingates manor. Insanity-Red - *glee* I was so happy to get your review, you really seem to grasp what I'm trying to do with Ginevra. And of course you recognize Victoria, always a plus. Please tell me what you think of this chapter! **

**Crazy Girl Writer – thanks so much for biting that bullet! Especially if you're reading on your phone! I do that occasionally and reviewing for that is a pain. Lol **

**CraZYdUCKIE – Most of them won't be showing their more extraordinary abilities, the purpose of them is to keep me from using OC's that end up as Mary Sues. I would love to know which ones you recognized though! :)**


	11. Of Moons and Stars

**Ginevra in Darkness**

**Chapter 11**

**Virginia Riddle-Malfoy**

**Disclaimer – Harry Potter does not belong to me, it belongs to J.K. Rowing. Any other characters you may recognize don't belong to me either. I don't claim anyone.**

**AN – And now we begin to split off from canon dramatically.**

Ginevra tugged the curtains closed and set her wand alight with a quick "Lumos" (she had read in it the Standard Book of Spells chapter 3 and mastered it after a couple tries) and opened the tattered book open on her lap and tapped the quill against her lip thoughtfully, before setting quill to paper.

**Good evening Tom.**

_Good evening Ginevra. How did today go?_

**Very well I believe. Lots of fun during potions, herbology was less fun but something tore apart all the mature mandrakes and left Sprout in fits.**

_Interesting. Do you have any idea who or what?_

**She said it looked like the work of a dog, but any dog would have been killed by their shrieks before he could hurt more than one.**

_I wonder if it was deaf, or if someone had put a deafening hex on one_? Tom wondered thoughtfully

**No idea. Victoria was rather tense about the whole thing. I think it might be related to that grim she has as a pet at home.**

_A pet GRIM?_ came the startled response. _What's her surname?_

**Wingates. An old neutral family from what I can tell. She says I remind her of him**. Ginevra wrote back.

_You have a Wingates as your roommate? Fascinating…. Ginevra try to court her favor if you can. Hers is a powerful family, she's undoubtedly Arthur or Richards's daughter – they were students when I was at Hogwarts. Both younger years._

**What's so special about them? I've heard Victoria mention a Wingates Organization but I was tired at the time and forgot to ask exactly what that was.  
**

_They're a family of dark creature hunters with complete autonomy from the ministry. They're employed directly by the royal family, taking orders only from them. It's a contract that goes back … oh… it's currently 1992 correct?_

**Yes.**

_I'd say around one hundred and fifty years. There were whispers of their having a weapon, a monstrous thing that could take on a hundred attacks at once and come out unscathed, but they remained unsubstantiated rumors._

They both paused in thought before Ginevra continued.

**I dropped off some copies of information I stole from Arthur before I left the Burrow to Draco Malfoy. He promised to send them on to Lucius.**

_Did you attract attention when doing so?_

**Who do you take me for? A Hufflepuff? The Slytherins blocked us from view. Then I went and sat at the Gryffindor table near the Golden Trio.**

_You've mentioned them before. Who are they?_

**My idiotic brother, a bossy-know-it-all muggleborn that resembles a beaver, and my new pet. I've been neglecting him…  
**

_Your…pet?_ the flowing script seemed to take on a tone of amusement.

**Mmmhmm. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. A half-blood, but he has a connection with the last Dark Lord that I'm very interested in.**

Tom's handwriting slanted as he wrote eagerly and slightly annoyed – _Tell me about this Dark Lord. You told me about Grindlewald and what happened to him but you've said nothing about one since then.  
_

Ginevra raised an eyebrow and waved the quill tip over the page teasingly before writing –

**The Dark Lord Voldemort -** the book seemed to hum as she wrote that name -**appeared about eleven years before I was born, around 1970. He was first a political figure fighting for the rights of Dark wizards and creatures and for restrictions on muggleborns and muggle families. He was apparently very charismatic from what I've been able to figure out from snippets and had a great deal of support from the Dark Families, even some of the lighter ones. **

**But then when Dumbledore and the Wizengamott turned down all his attempts he turned to terrorist attacks with his followers – the Death Eaters – such a lovely name. They had the wizarding world in shatters, the only safe places for Light Wizards was Hogwarts or for those with the means to leave the country. They probably would have won the war, but then on October 31st 1980 he went after the Potters – a pureblood Lord and his muggleborn wife and their only child Harry. They went into hiding but he found them anyway – Sirius Black was involved somehow- and The Dark Lord killed Potter and his wife, but when he cast the killing curse at Harry it somehow was reflected back and hit the Dark Lord. He disappeared, some say dead, others just missing, and left Harry with only a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. **

**But whenever he's near though I can feel a string of magic coming from his scar, it's the most delicious poisonous green, and I think it points to the Dark Lord wherever he is. The problem is when it hits me I get a dark magic high and make a fool of myself. I've resolved to keep him as a pet, but it's difficult being near him when I'm so sensitive to it. **She explained.

_ And there's been no sign of Voldemort since?_ Tom wrote back after a pause.

**As far as most people know. But the Golden Trio apparently faced him last year. He was a spirit possessing the last DADA teacher, trying to steal the philosophers stone from some convoluted obstacle course Dumbledore set up to try to catch him. I question its worth though, Harry, Ron and Hermione got through as only first years with no great skills.**

_And what happened then?_

**Harry touched Quirrell (the DADA teacher) and ashes ashes he burned right down. The Dark Lords spirit got away, Harry ended up in the hospital wing, and Gryffindor got handed the House Cup as a consolation prize by Dumbledore's last minute point awarding.**

Tom was silent for a time, and then wrote – _I need to think on this Ginevra. Did you remain under the radar today?_

**Radar?** Ginevra asked confused.

_Sorry, did you avoid getting noticed today?_ he rephrased sounding slightly embarrassed.

**I didn't hurt anyone except indirectly in potions when that boor Slack blew up our cauldron and got sent to the hospital wing, I didn't want to get a cut healed of course, so I refused when Professor Snape offered. Then Victoria and I went to the library and worked on our potions essays. Luna joined us. Then we went to lunch, I gave Draco the papers, then went back to Gryffindor, scared my brother, then went to herbology, then back to the dorm and set up my altar. The other girls made such a fuss!** She paused and then asked curiously **Tom, who was your patron?**

_I did not have one. I discovered the Old Ways too late for my connection; I reached my first magical maturity at a young age._ Tom wrote bitterly_. I decided to create my own fate when I found out I could not have that connection with a god._

**Whom did your family traditionally follow?** Ginevra asked

_I'm an orphan. I have no idea. Enough Ginevra, I grow tired._ Tom snapped.

**Liar liar, robes on fire.** Ginevra singsonged teasingly clicking her teeth at the book.

But her bed was getting stuffy, so she shut the book and put it back into her bag, opening the curtains and dancing over to Victoria's bed and flopping onto the foot. Victoria raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm bored. Entertain me." Ginevra ordered with a wide toothy grin at the blonde.

"Do I look like your house-elf? Entertain yourself." Victoria replied turning back to the letter she was writing on her lap. She had changed into a pair of pants and looked much more relaxed, her white blonde hair contrasting with her dark skin and white pillow.

Ginevra pouted. "Who are you writing to?"

"My butler Dornez, my uncle Artie, and Baskerville." She replied shortly.

"Why are you writing to your dog?" Ginevra asked raising a dark eyebrow.

A subtle smirk crossed the blondes face. "So he won't pine for me."

Ginevra shrugged and pulled over Victoria's copy of Defensive Magical Theory, draping herself over the foot of the bed and looking for hexes to practice on Blanche, Nina and Frieda who had exited for the common room below. About an hour later a soft croak caught her attention and she tilted to peak under the bed, her hair a blood colored tangle of curls around her.

It was a toad. A fat toad. A fat _stupid_ toad judging by the fact that it didn't react to her magic at all. Most animals had an instinctive need to get away from her. This one just sat there wetly, galumphing quietly. Ginevra rolled onto the floor with a thump and snatched the toad up in one hand.

"Hello Mr. Toad. Would you like to play with me?" she cooed grinning.

The toad, now slightly concerned, gave a strangled rib-bit, objecting to the tight grip she had on his body.

"Ginevra don't hurt the thing." Victoria called absently from her writing.

"I just want to hurt it a little…" Ginevra pouted cutely at the girl, squeezing slightly causing the toads eyes to bulge outward.

Victoria lifted her head up to focus on her roommate and shrugged. "On your own head be it. I am not explaining to its owner what you did to it."

Ginevra grinned widely. "Matzeltov." She turned back to the toad and waltzed her way over to the altar, picking up her bloodstone knife.

The toad wondered why on earth he had thought going to the girls side of the tower was a good idea….

)O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O(

The students made their way to the Astronomy tower around 11:40, the Hufflepuffs getting there first (by following Basil Wayne who had apparently memorized the layout of the whole castle from his brother's stories), followed by the Ravenclaws who were lead by a prefect – coincidentally – or perhaps not judging by the glare leveled at the unflappable Stephan Wayne who returned it with a serene smile- by the brother in question, making Basil all the more annoyed and causing him to be softly told off by his constant shadow Jon Witson.

Next up were the Slytherins also lead by a prefect – Lucinda Urquart the elder sister of Mirach. The two prefects chatted quietly in the corner while the Gryffindors made their way up in small groups, left to find their own way up to the tower.

Ginevra and Victoria – who seemed to be a night person as well as a morning person to Ginevra's consternation – made their way over to Luna who was standing by herself staring at the moon dreamily. They were joined by a few Slytherin girls who introduced themselves quietly – obviously recognizing Ginevra either from the bonding ceremony or had been told of it by those who had attended – and waited for Professor Sinistra to make her way up from her rooms below.

The girl who had ridden in the boat over with her and Luna reintroduced herself as Astoria Greengrass, the second daughter of Lord Noble Greengrass and his wife Alethia – a very successful wizarding lawyer. Her elder sister Daphne was a Slytherin in the class above them she explained airily.

Maia Gamp introduced herself distractedly as she unpacked a specialized telescope her mother –a Charms Mistress had apparently invented for her that saw farther off into space than all but the most advanced telescopes known to wizard kind. Luna wandered over to help her focus on the moon.

Electra Rohini introduced herself and then said "And Cassiopeia wouldn't tell me who you were this morning." pouting at the brunette in question who just raised an eyebrow behind her glasses.

"It was none of your business Electra. It wasn't my business either." She responded in what Ginevra now recognized to be her normal monotone.

Kastra Mizar shoved Cassiopeia aside to ask eagerly – "How did you end up becoming friends with Lord Malfoy Weasley? I thought your families had a blood feud!"

"They do. I'm just special." Ginevra purred back amused. "And please, call me Ginevra, Weasleys are a knut a dozen."

"Ginevra is his perfect revenge." Luna said dreamily, handing different knobs and tools to Maia.

The Slytherin girls took this in and nodded in comprehension.

"So you don't like your family Ginevra?" Astoria asked

Ginevra gave her a blank faced stare then said "Living there had few advantages, my only cause for gratitude to them is for the other bloodlines running through my veins - although that is clouded with Weasley blood. Full of light and sunshine." she shuddered in disgust. "Thankfully I seem to have the traits of my Black ancestors more than the Prewetts and the Weasleys."

"How close is your relation to the Blacks?" Electra asked curiously

"Two Grandparents. Cedrella Black and Lucretia Black. Poor marriage choices on both their parts." Ginevra said coldly.

"So your bloodlines are very good - minus the current blood traitors you're stuck with. Do you think Lord Malfoy intends to marry you to his son?"

Victoria now joined the conversation and raised an amused eyebrow. "Ginevra, as Lady of Malfoy Manor? I shudder to think."

The other girls tensed, glancing at Ginevra to see how to respond to this perceived insult. Ginevra gave Victoria a level stare for a minute, her magic dancing threateningly about her in tendrils and tentacles, her red hair coiling and shifting like snakes.

Victoria looked completely unconcerned and folded her arms. "Are you quite finished?"

Ginevra threw her head back and cackled, her magic draining back into her body and her hair once more motionless, some how this was even more frightening - the amount of control she had over her magic... Finally catching her breath she calmed once more and smiled toothily at Victoria. "Of course. Anything for my "best mate"." the mocking tone was impossible to ignore, however Victoria simply nodded as though this was a daily occurrence and moved on.

Before any further questions or conversation could be had a beautiful looking African witch her hair in small braids all ending in small dangling silver beads in the shapes of stars, moons and planets popped up from the trap door leading down to the school below. Exotic features, dark almond shaped eyes and dark walnut colored skin painted a picture of a beautiful foreign queen. She then opened her mouth and broke the illusion of nobility. "Hello brats." She grinned at them with white teeth. "Everyone here?" There was a general response in the positive. Lucinda and Stephen told the witch they would be back at one am, and left.

The woman who must be Professor Sinistra made her way to the front of the crowd of first years. "Right then. Astronomy. Studying the heavens and all that. Most witches and wizards don't get the point, as long as they can cast their spells and brew their potion and what not. I'm Professor Aurora Sinistra, Slytherin alumni, age none of your business. My partner Septemia Vector (teaches arithmancy poor fool) will be up in a few to help sort you lot. Now – I need muggleborns and those who don't know about the Old Ways to raise their hands. "

Four Gryffindors, four Ravenclaws, four Hufflepuffs and no Slytherins raised their hands, some more slowly than others, looking unsure at the request of the former Slytherin. She nodded slightly and ordered – "Right, now you lot go over there, you're gonna be brought up to speed by me, the rest are going to be taken by Septemia. Those who already know about this – feel free to tune out. Now, muggleborns and those who are unaware – the movement of the stars and other celestial bodies affect the strength of spells, hexes, jinxes, rituals, etc. The key to knowing how to do a full strength spell is knowing the current phase of the moon, the current zodiac sign, which planet is closest to the earth, and if these support the type of spell you do. The Gods – yes, my little muggleborns, those stories you were told as children in church about there being only one god is complete bullocks. That book of yours even says it although muggles ignore it "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" and such, doesn't mean there aren't other gods, in fact it points to there being other ones, or there's no point to having the line in there right? And most of the students here have gods they serve in one way or another – some are more active than others – if it's a family god or goddess there's a high chance the god won't be involved too much, just sort of a patron and someone you give sacrifices to on the Sabbats and Esbats – I'll tell you what those are later once Septemia gets here."

Many of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors looked unhappy and shaken by this latest information on the world they had joined. The Slytherins looked bored at this repeat of information, and the Ravenclaws were split in half, some bored and others curious for new information. Muggleborn Sarah Williams looked like Christmas had come early, standing out amongst the other puffs.

"The muggles have their god, we have ours, the two don't mix except for a very few exceptions that prove the rule. You may notice some of your house mates have small tables set up in your dorm with statues, candles and other odds and ends on it. Don't touch them. Those are sacred, a place of worship between each witch and wizard and their gods. You'll end up in the hospital wing if you try to mess about with it, and that's if you're lucky. Some of the darker gods really don't like meddling – when I was a student a kid ended up in a coma, he's still is in St. Mungos. Dumbledore had a hell of a time explaining that one to the kids parents let me tell you. Just leave them alone."

Sinistra pulled out a pack of muggle cigarettes from a pocket and lit one with the tip of her wand. She took a deep drag and sighed happily. "You're supposed to hear about all this in History of Magic, but Binns has been curing insomnia for the past century. You won't absorb a thing; I suggest bringing a pillow to his class. So it's been a tradition for the last fifty years or so that the Astronomy teacher gives a mini-course on it."

At that point the trap door behind them banged open and a pixie faced witch whose brunette hair was in braids similar to Sinistra's though these seemed to be very specific coils and were interwoven with feathers, string, beads, and various other things that were used in arithmetic wandless spell work instead. She blew a feather out of her blue eyes and paused, huffing, hands on knees – winded on the step.

"Temia! You're finally here!" Sinistra chirped looking amused at the other witch.

"You don't have to climb 14 flights of stairs to get up here. Bitch." Muttered back the other woman with no heat. "Am I late?"

Sinistra glanced heavenward at the moon and said "15 minutes maybe. Nothing worth crying over." She waved at the purebloods and half-bloods already in the know assembled on one side of the roof. "Your play things for the next hour."

Vector stood and snatched the cigarette out of her friends hand and sighed happily at the nicotine rush. "Come on then my little integers." She said waving the students already in the know over to the side to start studying the phases of the moon and how to focus a telescope.

"Professors? Don't you know smoking's bad for you?" Hufflepuff Mary Keyes asked tentatively.

Vector grinned. "Muggleborn right? If you ruin your lungs you just grab a potion and grow a new one. Nothing to freak out over. Best thing the muggles ever created these."

Ginevra was pulled over to Vector and spent the rest of the hour mapping out the craters on the moon labeling the Sea of Serenity and Tranquility with lazy quill strokes. The purebloods snickered at the occasional exclamations of shock that came from the muggleborns on the other side of the tower. Luna and Maia didn't even have to look through their telescopes to label their maps finishing quickly and then going on to explore the sky with Maia's telescope on their own. The two professors ended the class at one am, the Ravenclaws and Slytherins were picked up by their prefects with the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors warned to return straight to their dormitories or risk losing house points or a detention with Mr Filtch the cantankerous student-hating caretaker. The first years quickly went to bed, tired after a long morning of classes, Ginevra only pausing to check that the toad was still alive in the drawer she'd locked him in.

)O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O()O(

The next day began much the same as the last one had, except that Ginevra woke up at the same time as Victoria and discovered the other witch was up early to practice her fencing in a classroom near Gryffindor tower. Ginevra refused an offer to join, instead deciding to play with the toad that had been locked in the drawer all night. An hour or so later the other girls were awoken by Ginevra sacrificing it to Badb who seemed to share her chosen's sense of humor and caused the flash of light that usually followed a sacrifice to be accompanied by a thunder clap. The grumpy girls made their way down to breakfast with a cheerful Ginevra who joined the already present Victoria and began drinking her first cup of coffee. Victoria stuck with her tea.

The first class of the morning was charms, which the Gryffindors shared with the Hufflepuffs and were met by the tiny Head of Ravenclaw Professor Flitwick who stood on a pile of books in order to see over his lectern. He began by taking roll in his squeaky voice, and when that was done, began a lecture on wand movements. By the end of the class he was so pleased with their progress – or most of their progress, Bert Slack and Crux Hobday were both asked to do an hour's practice each day until their next class – Flitwick told them they should be practicing actual charms by Halloween. Rather sobered by the realization that it would be almost two months before they were allowed to do any actual magic, the joined group split off to their different classes with two chapters of reading from the Standard Book of Spells as homework due next Tuesday plus a 5 inch summary on each.

Ginevra managed to get lost from Victoria and the other Gryffindors between lunch and Transfiguration, ending up running in just after the bell rang. The professor was nowhere in sight but there was a tabby cat with square markings around its eyes sitting on the desk in the front of the room giving her a stern glare. Ginevra shrugged at it apologetically. "Not all who wander are lost, but my feet misplaced me." She told the cat, utterly unperturbed about speaking to a cat like a human being, and going to take the chair next to Victoria and across the row from Fu Fen who was reading – or rereading judging by notes filling the margins written in Chinese – their text book.

The cat looked at the clock and then jumped down, transforming mid jump into a stern looking Professor McGonagall. "Please take care not to get lost again Miss Weasley. I will not take points this time."

Douglas Baddock - who was the first derivation in an otherwise Slytherin family and sitting behind Ginevra muttered "Bet she'd have taken points if it was a Slytherin who was late." McGonagall obviously heard him, because her lips thinned considerably as she strode to the black board.

"You are here to learn the exact science that is Transfiguration. I warn you now that Transfiguration is one of the most difficult subjects taught here at Hogwarts. Any misbehavior in my class will result in your being removed and forced to prepare for the O.W.L.s on your own without my aid." She then transfigured her desk into a pony and back, causing Blanche and her girls to coo at it, the Ravenclaw girls mostly joining in. The class was quite keen to get started but found themselves instead writing page after page of meticulous notes and ending up with a four parchment essay on mental imaging and its influence on transfiguration for homework.

Lunch came and went with most of the first years too shell shocked by the amount of homework to say much before being sent off to Defense against the Dark Arts by Percy, who was once again with the Ravenclaw prefect who Ginevra learned was named Penelope Clearwater.

The Slytherins and the Gryffindors made their way to the first floor and into the Defense room to be half-blinded by smiling pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart.

Wilkes groaned audibly and muttered to Aquila and Alcor "I heard this guy is useless, he set loose a bunch of Cornish pixies on the second years and couldn't control them. What was Dumbledore thinking?" Ginevra smirked and noticed the smiles of the portraits were slightly strained, and there were a few frames that were chipped on one side or another. The window was also shattered now that she looked closer.

The students took their seats, with Brandon, Darren, Ginevra and Victoria the only Gryffindors willing to sit near the Slytherins who just rolled their eyes at the overly suspicious Gryffindors. Ginevra was having a pleasant conversation about poisons with Cassiopeia when the door at the top of the stairs burst open (in a very different way from Snape's door bursting technique) and Lockhart swept in wearing robes of eye watering pink.

"Hallo there!" he said posing with one foot on the bottom step and his hand on the banister. "Welcome, to your first class of Defense against the Dark Arts! A terrifying and difficult subject! But never fear... for I am to be your guide on the road to adulthood." he flashed the class a broad beaming smile. "I'm sure you've all heard of me."

The Slytherins were to the last blank faced. Brandon and Darren exchanged glances of horror. Blanche, Nina and Frieda swooned, utterly taken in by the blonde professor. And Bert Slack for once getting something right stated "Nope."

Lockharts face fell. "Not even a little?"

"No. I mean you've got the same name as the bloke who wrote these stupid text books – what kind of name is "Year with the Yeti"?" Bert stated.

Ginevra grinned, sensing an opportunity. "I myself found it curious that the writer has a different buxom witch in every book and no account of them is given later. I think he's a black widow and kills them off for their money in between books."

Lockhart now looked annoyed. "I most certainly did not!" he said indignantly. "Now if you don't mind, I believe I'll pass out the quiz! Just to see how much you've read you understand! It won't be graded!" he added seeing the looks of horror and disgust being leveled at him.

Ginevra looked down at the parchment placed in front of her incredulously.

What is Gilderoy Lockharts favorite colour?What is Gilderoy Lockharts secret ambition?What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockharts greatest achievement to date?How often does Gilderoy Lockhart brush his hair to achieve its shine?What was Gilderoy Lockharts childhood pets name?

"And they say I'm crazy." She muttered softly.

Victoria scowled as she too read over the test questions and raised her hand pointedly. "Tell me, _Professor_…" She sneered the word out. "Exactly how much experience do you have dealing with dark creatures? I mean… you seem to be under the impression in Wanderings with Werewolves that werewolves can transform any day of the month rather than the three days where the moon is in its fullest form."

Lockhart appeared flustered before puffing up indignantly. "Young lady, I'm not sure where you learned about dark creatures, but I am an expert! I was awarded the Order of Merlin third class for my contributions! And five time winner of witch weekly's best smile award!"

Victoria now looked furious. "What the **hell** does your smile have to do with your credibility as a professor?" she demanded. "I read through your books and frankly I could have written a better guide at the age of five. How **dare** you masquerade yourself as an expert? If the things written in these books is an example of your teaching method you will be sending these young people into the world utterly unprepared and defenseless against these monsters!"

Lockhart had stopped smiling, and Ginevra found he had a rather weak looking chin when it wasn't being stretched out. "Watch your language young lady, that'll be 20 points from Gryffindor I'm afraid and a detention. Name?"

Victoria slammed her hands on the desk and stood, head proudly lifted, shoulders back, and snapped "I am Miss Victoria Camilla Wingates, future head of the Wingates Organization, future knight of England, and its protector." Lockhart paled dramatically at her proclamation Ginevra noted gleefully. "You can expect a full investigation into your background "professor"." She sneered at the weak looking man before her. "Should any of your so called credentials have questionable validity I will have you shipped out of here before you can say Quidditch." She barked to the quailing wizard.

Brandon whispered to the tall blonde valkyrie – "Victoria… my father is the head of St. Mungos and is on the board of governors. . . Dumbledore couldn't get anybody else to take the job. There are no other candidates except for Professor Snape, and he doesn't have a defense mastery, even an honorary one, but he's one of the youngest potions masters ever."

Victoria whirled on the unfortunate brunette and demanded "Do you mean to tell me this pathetic excuse for a wizard is our only option? To teach at the greatest school of magic in Great Britain?"

"Uh-yes?"

"Then I shall acquire a replacement myself!"

"You've gone too far Wingates!" yelled Blanche who had finally mustered up the courage to stand up for her crush. "Professor Lockhart is an amazing wizard – look at all the people he's helped, all the half-breeds he's put down! Who cares if he made one little mistake in one of his books? You can't come barging in here trying to fire our professors! Who died and made you Head Mugwump?"

Ginevra, who had been watching Lockhart attempt to sneak out of the room during the fuss decided that this was quite enough, and grabbed Victoria's ink well and threw it in a perfect arc causing it to break on his head, spilling black ink all over his foppish hairdo, staining his pink robes. "And where do you think you're going little worm?" she purred, raising from her desk and darting forward to press her sparking wand against his neck which turned red from the heat.

Lockhart gave a noise that sounded suspiciously like "Mimblewimble." his eyes rolled back to the top of his head and fainted.

Ginevra stared down at the prone body at her feet incredulously. Even Scabbers didn't FAINT when she threw him down the stairs!

"You really think THAT is worthy of teaching us?" Victoria demanded, gesturing at the pink and black lump in the front of the red-headed menace she had claimed as a friend. "A man who faints when threatened by an untrained FIRST YEAR?"

Blanche looked a bit uncertain now, but her rebuttal was cut off by a squeal of pain and a loud crack. They looked forward to see Ginevra had stepped on Lockharts fingers and broken at least two, judging by the cries of pain the man was giving, scrambling, whimpering and begging to get her off his crushed hand.

She looked up innocently at Victoria. "I had to make sure he wasn't faking. Turns out he was." She punctuated her statement with the crunch of another bone breaking.

Blanche screamed "What in Merlins name is wrong with you Weasley!"

Victoria pushed her glasses up her nose in a gesture of impatience, causing them to flash. "Shut up Tinker. Ginevra, get off the idiot. Anyone who ISN'T hysterical want to get this idiot to the hospital wing?"

"You can't do this to me! I'm a teacher!" Lockhart cried between sobs.

The Slytherins who had, up till now been conversing in low voices raised their heads, a few holding the other Gryffindors at wand point. Cassiopeia spoke in her ruthless monotone. "The most ancient and noble houses of Greengrass, Gamp, Crux, Wilkes and Urquart lend their support to the Wingates family in her complaint against Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. Further support is given by the minor clan of O'Hara, and in support of Ginevra Weasley, vassal of the house of Malfoy by Aquila Altarf on behalf of his uncle Walden McNair, Electra Rohini on behalf of her betrothed – Peter Mirasolv descendent of the Tsars of Russia. Our complaint rests on the basis of your bibliography being full of lies and utter trash besides, the incident of the Cornish pixies yesterday with the second years of Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the apparent inability to defend yourself against a physical attack by a first year student who has yet to have a single defense lesson of any worth. We find you unsuitable for the post which you have been appointed. We support and request that the house of Wingates finds a new professor for Defense. And History of Magic if you have time." She added as an afterthought.

"So requested, so accepted." Victoria replied coldly.

In the front of the classroom Ginevra began to cackle and outside the baying of a hound echoed over the grounds, eclipsing the sound of Lockharts sobs and whimpers.

**AN –REVIEW! Please!**

** So begins Victoria's coup of the school. You can bet Dumbledore won't be pleased though. ;) I had actually planned this for a couple chapters in, but Victoria wouldn't have it. He didn't even get to pass out his History of Lockhart quizzes! XD Anyone want to guess who Victoria will put forward as the new defense professor? And no, it won't be Baskerville… as amusing as that would be, I doubt the parents would allow that, even with Victoria's support. He would find the whole thing very amusing though. I have plans for the new DADA and HoM professors, but I can re-write it if anyone has any ideas that I particularly like. ;)**


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